Human kind has been inventing and creating survival tools dated as far back as the Paleolithic era nearly 2.6 million years ago. Earth has gone through several changes and our environment has been affected negatively. Mankind has increased life span and has discovered several kinds of energy such as caloric to thermonuclear energy. Most of these energies use nonrenewable substances such as petroleum, coal or gas. The constant use of these substances has affected our planet in several ways like cooler winters and warmer summers. This process inspired several engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs to find new sources of energies using renewable materials which are called green energy. My main focus is going to be on Solar Energy. This new green energy takes advantage of the sun’s energy and has been improving as time passes by.  One of the perks is that Solar energy does not produce noise and is pollution free.
In order to produce Solar energy, two different strategies have been used so far. One process converts sunlight to electricity by using solar panels or photovoltaic cells and then storing energy in batteries. The second process is by using a thermos reactor where heat boils water and the steam moves a turbine to generate electricity. The first way is the most useful strategy that takes advantage of solar energy worldwide. Solar panel history began in the 19th century but its golden era started in the 2000s. This took place when the environment and public health were suffering due to excessive use of fossil fuels.
Solar panels have been evolving throughout the last century. The main use for solar panels used to only be in calculators. In large scale cities, solar panels were seen as a luxury due to the expensive and long process to build them. SolarCity is a well-known company that has been growing recently during the last decade. They have achieved low costs for buyers by making and using their own equipment. This saves tons of money and time for potential solar panels used in homes and buildings. Many of the new solar panels turned out to have lower costs for manufacturing and installment. The cost and price depends on the panel’s thickness meaning that the thinner it is, the expensive it is to make. Thus, many countries have been taking advantage of the low production price. Morocco is a country in North Africa that is aiming towards clean energy production. Morocco has launched a solar power plant called “Noor 1 CSP” in the desert city of Ourrzazate. This solar power plant is predicted to provide cheap and clean energy for 1.1 million locals by the year 2030. Solar panels are our main source to store solar energy. If the cost of production keeps decreasing, people can enjoy cheap and clean renewable energy worldwide.
Our lack of care towards pollution-free and a conservative energy environment has become a main concern for scientists. As was said earlier, Earth has been facing cooler winters and warmer summers in which scientists have defined this as “Global Warming.” Earth has been facing a gradual increase of temperature year by year. The overuse of chemicals, fossil fuels and other pollutants contribute to this issue. Many people are taking big steps for Earth’s future by developing new green energy sources. Power energy plants are unsafe for the Earth due to lack of proper facilities. Unfortunately they are destroying and harming nature in several ways. Solar Energy facilities are going above and beyond by strategically finding places to build new facilities. Solar panels are being installed on rooftops or open area lands where natural resources are uncommon. Earth and our society will benefit from solar energy in several different ways. The main concept is that glass will be changed to photovoltaic panels and each building, school or house will be an independent source of green energy. Just imagine the One World Trade Center powering New York City with green energy or the new apartment buildings to be built in Brooklyn powering this borough with cheap and clean energy. Now is the time for many of us to take action to protect our planet and secure a positive future for new generations by supporting solar green energy.
The main idea of solar energy is to save the government and people tons of money but most importantly it also contributes to our environment. President Barack Obama has been supporting renewable green energy during his time period in office. Solar energy has been growing in the United States because of three key reasons. The decrease in costs such as installations, leasing panels and energy storage has brought more customers where regulations have been stable for a while now. This has motivated many people around the world to improve our environment by taking current advanced technology to use solar energy everywhere. As an example, Two Swiss pilots named Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg flew a sun-powered plane around the world last year. They started their first trip from Abu Dhabi to Muscat, Oman. They arrived to US mainland on May 3rd in California and are expected to be seen in the tristate area on July 7th. This amazing journey seems to be taken out from a Jules Verne adventure novel, “Around the World in Eighty Days”. It seems that year 2016 is going to be a remarkable year for solar energy. Solar energy has been contributing to our energy system more so than natural gas and wind generators. The US government has started to promote and apply new tax credit extensions for the use of green energy but with deadlines. Worst case scenarios would be that after so much money is invested, certain companies would not be able to meet deadlines and decide to stop their businesses. President Obama’s administration has been endorsing and operating a Clean Power Plan for a while now. If people can follow in his footsteps, our nation will strive and make this world a greener environment by using renewable energy.
We have to remember that we all share a home called Earth. Our home is facing a big catastrophe known as “Global Warming”. Now is the moment to act and start changing our way of life to protect Earth. Many people around the world such as presidents, politicians, actors, scientists, and professors have been trying to warn us about our planet’s future. Many people worldwide do not believe that Global Warming is real, but we can see how our weather has changed during the last few decades. These facts have inspired many people to find new sources of energy. One of the most important and easy source is the sun’s power. It has been here since day one and anyone can take advantage of this clean energy to power our world. Solar energy has been growing exponentially during the last decade. This has greatly impacted our society in a positive outcome. Many of us will benefit in several different ways with this growth. Our planet needs us and now is the time to take care of our home.
Annotated Bibliography
Topic: SOLAR ENERGY
Solar energy is an environmental friendly solution to a new generation of green energy.
Brand, E. (2015, November 3). Solar power can have a major impact without major harm. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://nytimes.com
Building solar energy facilities require careful and thoughtful planning. We have to be mindful and not purposely destroy natural lands. If we destroy lands it will be greatly affect the wildlife community in a negative way. This article emphasizes on using rooftops or open area lands where natural resources are scarce. This source is relevant to my research since it talks about the future and upcoming plans that the state of California wants to establish. It mentioned the U.N. Climate Summit in Paris last year which is another resource I looked into.
Cardwell, D. (2015, October 3). SolarCity to make high-efficiency panel. The New York Times, pp. B2.
The company SolarCity is known to be the fast growing provider of rooftop solar electricity systems. After a year of announcing their goal to begin building their own equipment they finally placed their plan into action. Their reason for choosing this route is that it is too costly to pay for standard models nowadays. It would cost less to make their panels and start first with rooftop installations for small buildings like schools and homes. This source is important for my research paper because it provides a positive outcome of implementing solar systems to be common use in our cities. It was interesting to read how this company progressed in a short period of time and hopefully continues to grow.
Cook, J. (2016, February 08). How Morocco is harnessing solar power to achieve energy independence. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://huffingtonpost.com
Morocco has already started their aim towards clean energy production by the year 2030. They have recently launched Noor 1 which is their new solar power plant in the desert city of Ouarzazate. Noor 1 for now will provide 650,000 residents with 160 megawatts of power but eventually provide power to 1.1 million locals. Morocco has smartly taken advantage and found a way to transform sunlight into an economic asset. They have been praised and acknowledged for this new project because they acted upon the King’s vision and made it come true. The article is relevant to my research paper because even though it is mainly about Morocco, it still provides facts about a greener development and solar technology advancement for the future. The rest of the world can learn and start projects like this seeing how Morocco was able to reach energy independence instead of relying on imports from abroad.
Davies, A. (2015, June 30). Solar-powered plane begins a risky trip across the Pacific. Wired. Retrieved from http://wired.com
Two Swiss pilots named Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg flew the sun-powered Solar Impulse 2 plane around the world last year. They started their trip from Abu Dhabi to Muscat, Oman first. They had a few setbacks but they managed to get from Nanjing, China to Hawaii as well. The plane was 5,000 pounds and the cabin was pressurized. The article explains how the solar plane worked and taught me a few new things. Solar panels are more effective when the sun’s energy is coming from behind the plane. The article is relevant to my research paper because it gives me an explanation in depth to what makes the solar plane work and the problems it encountered. It provided me yet with another reason as to why it will have an important impact on society.
Harris, G. (2015, August 24). Obama flies to the Nevada desert to promote solar energy. The New York Times, pp.A12.
Solar Energy has been getting a lot of praise and attention throughout the world. President Obama talked about climate change in Las Vegas, Nevada last year. Mr. Obama was supporting all the benefits of renewable energy but he focused mainly on Solar Energy. This new energy source has been helping counteract the effects of global warming and create twice as many jobs than any other energy source. Solar energy continues to grow rapidly and it seems it could do just fine without the help of the government. One of the main facts of this article is that the US government has been helping promote new renewable energy, especially solar energy. The article mentions that big and well-known companies such as Walmart, Google and Apple have been purchasing clean energy systems and investing money for a greener environment which is relevant to my research paper. This is a positive outcome and could be a great influence for a long lasting effect in our future.
Leslie, J. (2016, February 1). Nevada’s solar bait-and-switch. The New York Times, pp. A21.
The whole idea of solar energy is to save money, use natural resources and have a green environment. The article states that President Obama seems to have exaggerated his view on solar saving Americans money on their energy bills per year. It is focusing on the state of Nevada whose residents have been lied to and thrown into huge increases in their bills. It is obvious by reading other articles and having knowledge of solar energy that this is absurd for increased bills. The negative viewpoint on solar energy is an important argument for my research paper since any idea or change always has a setback. The article ends on a positive note informing us that for the future it looks like energy costs will decrease at some point and how we will use natural resources like solar and wind for utilities as a solution to high bills.
Mcdonell, T. (2015, March 10). Solar is growing faster than non-renewable energy in the US. Wired. Retrieved from http://wired.com
The article dated early last year in 2015, explains and shows how solar power is growing in the United States. The three main reasons are the decrease in costs such as installations, leasing panels and energy storage has brought more customers and regulations have been stable for a while now. Solar rooftops are most popular because homeowners are pretty much backed up by solar companies and regulations protect them. The article provides a couple of charts explaining the increase of installations and also compares solar energy to natural gas, coal, and wind. This is relevant to my research paper because by seeing numbers and charts it can physically lay out a better explanation to why solar panels have become the next big focus and project for the US.
Mooney, C. (2016, March 02). Solar energy is poised for an unforgettable year. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://washingtonpost.com
Solar energy is contributing to our energy system more so than natural gas and wind. The government has started to promote new forms of green energy with tax credit extensions. As with any other new idea, there are deadlines and the worst case scenarios where after so much money is invested, it could all be worth nothing in the end. But, with the initiation of tax credit extensions people could slow down with investing a whole lot of money at once and projects could get pushed back for better planning. The article mentions the Clean Power Plan in which Obama’s administration is currently operating. This makes it very much relevant to the other sources I have found. It links to my research paper and is important for our society because it speaks about future goals. Apparently, by the year 2020 the U.S. will have added 53 additional gigawatts of renewable energy capacity making it a long lasting impact.
Solar Power Energy Information, Solar Power Energy Facts, National Geographic (n.d.). Retrieved from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com
Solar energy technology has been progressing and continues to improve. It basically allows us to take advantage of the sun’s energy as a natural resource. There are a couple different techniques for using solar energy. One of them is the solar panels or photovoltaic cells which are placed on rooftops, spacecraft and handheld calculators. Another one is the solar thermal power plants that use the sun’s energy as a heat source. Instead of using coal and nuclear power plants to supply electricity, the heat boils water to drive a steam turbine to generate electricity. Solar energy produces no noise and is pollution free. This article is important for my research paper because it explains the various techniques that have been established and succeeded. Countries such as Japan, Germany and the United States have produced a successful business franchise for solar cells. It goes in depth as to how solar energy could become a long lasting effect in our society and world for our future.
Warburg, P. (2015, November 03). Don’t ignore a solar cornucopia. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://nytimes.com
This article provides positive aspects for solar development on farms. It gives great insight and thoughtful remarks about using solar panels in a smart way. By building solar plants on lands it benefits the environment and the farmers by taking advantage of our free energy resources. This opens up a new business proposal to which farmers are being able to lease land for solar purposes making a business out of it. This article is relevant to my research paper since it breaks down how much acres of land has already started to be used. There are six southwestern states that have been chosen by the Department of Interior to be using about 285,000 acres of land for solar power. By implementing this idea, it would make it a long lasting effect on society. No longer would our environment or public health be in danger because of burning fossil fuels.
