Why We Ought To Go Solar | Solar Power

Nearly every joule of energy on planet Earth is solar energy. Only two other types of energy exist on our beautiful planet: gravity and the molten core of the Earth itself, and the molten core could be solar energy if one subscribes to the theory that the planet is simply solar flotsam spewed out in a huge solar storm billions of years ago. Gravity is the only form of energy that we can say definitively is not solar in nature.

“Gravity?” some might ask. Yes, gravity is energy. Water flows as a result of gravity. When it turns a hydroelectric turbine, gravity is being used to power your home.

Even the wind is, in the final analysis, solar in nature. When the sun heats the atmosphere, it causes movement, the same way steam results from boiling water. The movement in the atmosphere is wind. Wind is solar.

Petroleum, natural gas and coal are essentially decayed organic matter. Organic matter depends on the sun as the lowest levels of the food chain — plants — grow due to photosynthesis, which is why plants die in a dark closet.

So we have established that almost all available energy on this planet comes from the sun. There is the first reason that solar energy is superior to “other” forms of energy: It exists in its base form. We don’t have to wait millions of years for dinosaur bones to decay into sunlight. Sunlight itself is the alpha. Oil and its attendant problems are currently the omega, but that need not be.

We can harness solar energy immediately. It is very simple to harness solar energy. Have you ever opened the drapes on a sunny winter day to let the sunlight in, to enjoy its warmth? You have harnessed solar energy. It has not cost us a dime — which brings us to the second advantage of solar energy: It is cheap. Even solar panels have become cheap in recent years. If one considers the cost of cleaning up oil spills and the cost of global climate change (in the form of intensified weather events which are now undeniable on a global scale), solar power is indeed the cheapest form of energy in the world.

Another advantage of solar energy is that it is everywhere. Even on a cloudy day, a massive amount of solar energy is hitting the ground. Which brings us to the final advantage — solar energy is abundant. Every single day, more energy from sunlight reaches the surface of our planet than will be burned in the entire history of all fossil fuels combined. This is absolutely a scientific fact. Look it up. It works out to 12.2 trillion watt-hours of solar energy per square mile per year. Multiply this by 198 million square miles on the surface of the earth. This is a lot of energy.

It is up to us to harness it on a large scale. It will be easier than drilling for dwindling amounts of coal and oil and much easier and safer, not to mention less expensive, than opening new nuclear plants.