An exciting question. After all, you don’t want to sit in the dark just because a cloud moves in front of the sun and the solar system cannot produce energy.
There was a time when concerns about the reliability of production were well-founded. Nowadays, however, solar panels cannot be compared to the early days of solar systems. They are much more effective. Studies show that the reliability of solar panels is excellent.
Whether a solar system is a reliable energy source for you depends on individual details. Do you want to install solar panels on your roof – which direction faces your roof? The more direct sunlight, the better, of course. But this does not mean that a roof that is not facing south is not suitable for a solar system. Alternatively, the system can be built on your property as a ground installation. This gives you more possibilities to align the panels in the best possible way. There are other components to consider. Is there a lot of shading on the property, for example from trees?
Let’s look at different energy sources to answer this question. We will concentrate on some of the most common energy sources to give you an overview. Of course, there are other energy sources.
Coal is certainly bad for the environment. Whether reliable and cheap or not, coal is definitely not a good, sustainable source of energy in terms of its impact on the environment. It emits large amounts of greenhouse gases. The environment is also affected by mining and burning, just to name a few aspects.
No emissions are produced during energy production and large amounts of energy can be generated. However, dams are repeatedly built where the environment, be it nature or local residents, depend on the normal flow of water. Here Hydropower intervenes in the natural habitat and has a negative effect on the environment.
Petroleum also has high CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the amount of petroleum available is limited.
No environmental pollution is produced during the production of energy. Of course, this does not apply in the same way to production. And of course, this is also the case with the other energy sources mentioned in this list in different ways. However, in this article, we are concentrating primarily on solar energy, which is why we are taking a closer look at it again here.
Of course, energy has to be generated to produce the solar panels first. Also, different chemicals are used for production. However, in the long run, the environmental impact is less severe than with some other energy sources mentioned before. This is why we are convinced that we are doing something good for the environment with solar energy.
Energy generated in nuclear power plants does not produce greenhouse gas or CO2 emissions. However, there is still no perfect solution for the storage of nuclear waste that is regularly generated. We do not even want to start talking about the possible consequences if there is an accident in one of the nuclear power plants. So there is still room for improvement here!
No emissions. Has only a minor impact on the ecosystem – it depends on where it is built. But it does not make sense to install wind turbines everywhere. And of course, not everyone can just put a wind turbine in their garden – it requires a larger area of land.