Good Reasons for Choosing Solar Power

Oct. 18, 2016

Posted: Tuesday, 10/18/16 @ 11am EST
 

Along with saving money, solar also helps to save the world

In addition to green energy producing green savings for your wallet, there’s also green savings for the environment. That’s a good thing for the environment, because the utility company is generating its electricity from dirty, non-renewable fossil fuels that harm the planet and threaten our health. Here is how the use of fossil fuels compares to solar:


Fossil Fuels
  • Extraction - Oil, coal, and natural gas all inflict severe environmental harm in the process of extracting them. Surrounding habitats are destroyed and polluted by the chemicals and machinery used for retrieving the fuel. That’s the best case scenario. Worse happens every so often when something goes wrong—ie, an oil tanker spill, a drilling rig pipe break spilling uncontrollably, fires at natural gas wells, and so on. Whenever these happen, ecosystems are destroyed.   
  • Consumption - The burning of fossil fuels produces toxic byproducts that can result in acid rain, polluted water ways, methane gas emissions, and other harmful pollutants. These become especially threatening in cities where the high concentration of pollution accumulates into smog that makes the air unfit to breathe.
  • Side-effects - Another byproduct when they’re burned is CO2 , a greenhouse gas that traps the sun’s heat in the earth. Scientists unanimously agree that these greenhouse gases are causing global warming and will lead to dire consequences. The increase in temperature of the planet will be catastrophic for the delicate balance of all life on earth, leading to extinctions of species, rising sea levels, increasing severe weather, and more environmental peril.

Solar Energy 
  • Extraction - Energy is ‘extracted’ from the sun by letting it shine on solar panels. Nothing is harmed in the process
  • Consumption - When energy is converted to electricity there is no byproduct. Nothing is polluted in the process
  • Side-effects -There is no pollution, and so no side-effects

Since solar is truly a completely clean, no-emmisssion energy, there’s nothing to measure of its environmental impact. Instead, solar’s effects are usually evaluated in terms of the environmental harm saved from an equivalent amount of fossil fuel energy otherwise being used. Here are some examples:

If you thought the energy from just one home going solar wasn’t noticeable, these numbers show how significant savings can add up over time. You can make a difference.

There’s a dollar figure that can be placed on the amount of savings solar brings by sparring the cost of energy bills. But if solar also spares the destruction from fossil fuels, then it just might help save the world. That savings is priceless. 

Want to learn more?  Contact us today for your free in-home or in-business consulation.

Questions? Contact:
Natalie Holtgrefe
Director of Marketing at Boston Solar
natalie.holtgrefe@bostonsolar.us
617-858-1645

Good Reasons for Choosing Solar Power

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