Solar Power Katie Carton, Macey McGuire, and Cord Pennell

Index Example Environmental Advantages Environmental Problems Social/Political Problems Can Energy be Enhanced How Solar be used in Less Sunny Area Is it Growing? Are the Problems Real or Exaggerated? Works Cited

Example We use solar power! We have 32 panels on our roof. Have saved over $2,000 this year alone BUT, it cost us over $61,000 to install and maintain Overall, we would install them again if we had the change

Environmental Advantages Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and waste Assess sustainability issues, develop standards practices, and pursue solutions to ensure practices Ensure that panels (PV) are responsibly recycled. It is one of the cleanest methods of energy production known.

Solar Energy in Areas Having High Sunlight and Low Cloud Cover In tropical or dessert areas. The sun hits the earth in these places more directly than those who have more cloud cover. In the United States: – Nevada – California – Arizona – Utah – Colorado – New Mexico – Texas

Can energy production from Solar Energy be enhanced in those areas? Yes California Public Utility on Solar Energy. Policies More research. More Advancements

Environmental Problems Does not work at night Difficult to use in places with little to no sun Can be unreliable Panel deterioration Lead can leak Cadmium can leak from the panels Requires a lot of space

Can energy production from solar energy be developed in less sunny areas State Policies Government policies Incentives Utility coverage. “Plug and Play”- Photovoltaic Systems Yes

Social/ Political Problems The view is not pleasing Solar panels are not cheap They must constantly be maintained and often replaced. Single solar panels are not sufficient power producers so a lot of panels need to be used Only areas with lots of sunlight are suitable for solar power so certain counties/locations cannot use them and so do not wish to politically fund them

Social/ Political Problems Continued Solar power stations are very expensive to build Expensive at first, but you save money in the long run Lack of consistency and reliability They take up a lot of space so people do not want to lose land to them The cost for installing solar panels and doing more research to better the energy sources makes political disagreements occur.

Solar Energy Growing? In the solar sector there has been a huge cost reduction in the PV (Photovoltaic) There is newer technology to help make it cheap and more efficient

Growing cont… Solar power is growing much quicker than wind Last year solar produced 30.5 GW out of the 46.6 GW that was combined wind and solar Wind energy is forecasted to shrink by 25% in the next year

Are the Problems Real of Exaggerated? What do you think? – Yes – No What do we think? – Yes & No We believe that some of the problems such as leakages are a issue, but the product will get better and we will be able to have less panels but more power and thus limit the amount of space needed.

Works Cited refurl= wcbQrM&imgurl= winter_view.jpg&w=754&h=542&ei=xl6KUr_uIqz84AP2joGIAQ&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:5,s:0,i:94& iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=178&tbnw=257&start=0&ndsp=9&tx=221&ty=74 efurl= georgia-climate-initiative/&docid=QPFWaaY9xb90GM&imgurl= content/uploads/2013/08/solar-panel- houses.jpg&w=620&h=413&ei=xl6KUr_uIqz84AP2joGIAQ&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:20,s:0,i:147&iact =rc&page=2&tbnh=183&tbnw=275&start=9&ndsp=12&tx=173&ty=

Works Cited lpDr7z5M&tbnid=64MBvgAYYjeJEM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washington post.com%2Fblogs%2Fwonkblog%2Fwp%2F2013%2F02%2F08%2Fgermany-has-five-times-as- much-solar-power-as-the-u-s-despite-alaska-levels-of-sun%2F&ei=LJyKUvuzOY_- 4AOE_oGgDA&bvm=bv ,d.dmg&psig=AFQjCNEZtbnZTr3wrpoqVLiJpbd7jY4xdQ&ust = BWon0DMM&tbnid=2Yzf9v322mYg6M:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fsec.ucf. edu%2Fen%2Fmedia%2Fenews%2F2007%2F _Sunshine_state.htm&ei=NqSKUpuuLbW14AO3l4HoDQ&bvm=bv ,d.dmg&psig=AFQ jCNGJ5KykhvfBGkFlK6_uoPhNFmp0Uw&ust= works.html#The_Future_of_Solar_Energ works.html#The_Future_of_Solar_Energ