The Positive And Negative Environmental Impacts Of Solar Panels

September 10, 2022
Photo by Bill Mead on Unsplash

When it comes to the best solar panels, almost everyone considers them to be the “greenest” energy producer available out there. But are they really that amazing?

Or do they have some sort of inadequacies in their game? Please keep reading to find out more in this context. And don’t forget to comment if you’re confused about something.

What Is A Solar Panel?

Like water or air, the radiation power of the sun can also be converted into a ball of energy. If you want, you can use it whenever and however you like.

For example, you can install a solar panel on the roof of your house; it can help you power up your house perfectly. Conversely, keeping the same on your car will make it move properly.

Yes, there’s no need to buy petrol or anything as such at all.

Anyway, let’s get back to our topic at hand right now. A solar panel, in essence, is a technical marvel that can help you produce solar power from the radiation of the sun.

As you may have guessed, you’ll need to place or install it in a place where it can get a lot of sunshine and brightness. And, it’ll produce the required power accordingly.

How Does It Work, Though?

A solar panel usually works by collecting renewable, clean energy from sunlight. After it is done with that, the item will turn the same into electricity to provide power to an electrical grid. But, well… how does it do some much work without making a single mistake?

A panel, in essence, is made of more than one solar cell. They tend to come with a composed layer of phosphorus, boron, and silicone. So, with them, the panel absorbs the photons. This, in turn, tends to initiate an electric current and generates the required power.

Benefits Of A Solar Panel

A solar panel can be highly beneficial for both you and the environment if you can use it in a proper manner. Keep reading to know more in this context.

Benefit – 1: Can Lower The Production Of Greenhouse Gases.

The traditional method of generating power is quite quick and efficient on paper. However, it can still make quite a lot of noise and produce a massive amount of greenhouse gas.

However, the same cannot be said against the usage of solar panels.

After all, it doesn’t use any kind of additional technology or anything that’ll emit greenhouse gas while working. So, it doesn’t cause air pollution or anything as such at all.

Benefit – 2: Can Be Beneficial For An Electric Vehicle User.

Buying an electric vehicle can be quite a hassle, to be honest. After all, it’s extremely costly. And, only purchasing the car isn’t going to be enough. Besides, in some cases, you may have to buy the charger separately as well. And, that’s a bit annoying.

Besides, charging a full-fledged car can be a heavy burden on you too… as long as you’re not using a solar panel. Wait, let us tell you how it will work in this case.

So, if you want to drive your car using solar energy, all you need to do is install a panel on the roof of your vehicle. This will charge the car on the go. Or, if you want, you can also keep the four-wheeler outside of your house to charge it naturally.

Benefit – 3: Say NO To Water Pollution.

Usually, when it comes to manufacturing a solar panel, it might require a little bit of water in that period. However, after that, you won’t have to use anything else at all. 

When the panel is creating solar power, it usually doesn’t require too much water at all. And, due to the power production method, it doesn’t affect the water bodies in our environment.

So, that’s another prominent benefit of it.

Disadvantages Of Using A Solar Panel

However, the unfortunate thing is that it’s not all flowers and daisies for a solar panel at all. It does offer some benefits on its own. But, in some cases, it can affect us and the environment as well. Please keep reading to find out more about it.

Disadvantage – 1: The Energy Demand.

The solar panels currently available in the market are quite slow. And, they might take a huge amount of time to produce the required amount of energy too. This, in turn, makes them quite a bit inadequate in the energy production segment.

Also, the production method of a solar panel is quite power-hungry too. Thus, the person who is working on it has to provide a lot of heat on the same. And, it’s not really a feasible option.

Disadvantage – 2: Production Of Chemicals.

If you want to create solar-grade silicon, you have to use various hazardous chemicals to start the processing of the semiconductor. Depending on the country as well as the manufacturer, it might not be disposed of properly as well.

And, if these are sent into the environment for some reason, they may affect our surroundings to some extent too. Although that’s on us, it’s yet another unfortunate disadvantage of panels.

Disadvantage – 3: No Recycling At All.

Do you know what happens when a solar panel gets decommissioned or broken? Well, they are thrown away in the wild by the manufacturer. Due to their production method, they can’t be recycled or reused by anyone at all.

The Final Say!

Using a solar panel is almost like two sides of a coin. 

It has a negative as well as a positive side to it. And, each of them is quite overwhelming in their approach. However, if you ask us, we’ll still ask you to invest in solar panels.

After all, they can help you in lowering the carbon footprint on our environment. And, if we are being honest, the issues related to them can be taken care of in the future as well.

So, at this point, we don’t think there’s anything else to worry about at all.

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