Pros and Cons of Solar Power
Homeowners are always devising ways of cutting down their power bills. One of the initiatives that some of them have utilized is investing in solar energy. Some of them have installed solar panels on the roofs of their houses while others have used solar roofing materials on their houses.
Whatever avenue they use to tap the solar power, they are likely to discover that their new source of energy comes with both pros and cons.
Here below South Shore Roofing, the best solar roof installation contractor in Savannah, GA highlights them:
Pros of solar power
Once you have installed a solar energy system in your home, you gain from a wide range of benefits some of whose impacts you feel instantly and directly, other you will never feel over the years because you benefit indirectly. They include:
Clean energy: You will be accessing clean energy with no smoke or other such harmful emissions. This will spare you and your family pollution and its related illnesses, thereby cutting down your health bills and boosting your productivity and that of your family members.
Global warming: In the last 50 years, the average global temperature has risen at a faster rate than ever in the recorded human history in what is now known as global warming. Worse still, scientists are warning that it is likely even to increase much faster unless the world community act and act quickly. The good news is that, by installing solar power, you are playing your small part in fighting global warming. Studies have shown solar energy does not emit global warming pollution. Indeed, it had been dubbed as one of the most critical solutions to the global warming threat.
Cutting your utility bills: Installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on your roof to tap solar power would save you tens of dollars in electricity bills. This is because solar power is cheap and inexhaustible and if you can harness it enough and utilize it in lighting, warming, cooking, ironing, warming water and other household uses you will make huge savings on your monthly and annual utility bills.
Reliable energy supply: Homeowners know almost exactly when the sun will rise, set and for how long it will shine in a day, week, month or year in their region across the world. With this information, they can know how effectively tap it making it a very reliable source of energy.
Free of power politics: Solar energy is perhaps the only source of energy every free person has the exclusive freedom to access it. There are no suppliers, monopoly utility companies, politically or militarily hostile source countries that would hold the world to ransom over it. This energy security has attracted even the interest of the US military, which is why it has invested in it heavily.
Freedom from power grid: If you install well and enough solar panels, you could tap sufficient solar energy. You will be energy independent in that you will not be fully relying on the city, regional, state or national power grid for your supply. This is beneficial for you and your family as a person, but also good for the cities, counties, states, countries, and even the utility companies because it reduces the pressure on their grids.
Jobs creation: Whether it is manufacturing the solar panels and their related equipment or installing the panels or maintaining them, solar power is a good source of employment. What is more, the solar energy can be used to drive other productive activities thereby further creating jobs.
Cons of solar power
That as it may, solar energy has its drawbacks. According to South Shore Roofing, a roofing company in Savannah, Georgia, they include:
Sunshine dependent: The biggest drawback of solar energy is that it depends on the sun. So once the sun sets, heavily covered by clouds or disappears, for instance, during the winter season, your power supply becomes erratic or inadequate. This is because the solar PV panels are not producing energy optimally. This means you cannot rely on solar power for all your power supply all the time round the year.
