Monica, UR- The Sun is the Future

Sun rays through clouds

Since I've started collecting data, not much has changed. There is a clear winning panel that has the highest amount of power being produced everyday. I'm not going to give it away quite yet, but the numbers have been very consistent. I'm still very fascinated by the spikes of power from April 12th to the 13th. Both those days were cloudy so I am wondering if the sun reflecting on the clouds could have caused the spike in power. I decided to look it up and I am actually correct! They called it an unusual phenomenon. This spike in power production happens when cumulus clouds cover the sun. They sun rays still shine through and they are also reflected from the clouds thus causing a short boost in energy. COOL!


Questions: Michelle, Section 201: Compared to conventional energy (such as fossil fuels), is the startup cost and installation process more or less work, and does it produce more or less power? Would it be economically feasible for a state/country to switch completely to solar power?

Hey Michelle, It's difficult to compare cost unfortunately. In my opinion, I would say the installation process is less work because solar panels are easily mounted on houses. So there is no need for power plants (that burn fuel) and we wouldn't need oil/ gas lines throughout the entire county. You also have to think of how the solar panels are made on an environmental stand point. The materials needed are still mined and of course there is environmental damage (not as much as fossil fuel mining though). With fossil fuels there is not only physical environmental damage, there is air pollution and water pollution. As the power goes, there is instant power with solar and with it being on your house there is not much energy lost within the wires. With fossil fuels, once burned at the plant they travel through power lines and as much as 15% is lost. So I would say solar panels produce more power because they aren't losing power when they go through wires as much as the fossil fuels. There are many opinions on if it would be economic to switch completely to solar. According to an article I just read, it stated that we could all have solar panels comparable or even less than our dirty energy cost. This would also save us a lot of money because we don't need fossil fuels anymore.  Below are the website I obtained this information from. They go into very good detail of why and have statistical data of other countries. Hope I answered your question, thanks for the interest!

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

The Solar company. (2011) Do clouds affect solar panels?. Retrieved from https://www.thesolarco.com/do-clouds-affect-solar-panels/

Richardson. L, (2016) Solar Energy vs Fossil Fuels. Retrieved  from http://news.energysage.com/solar-energy-vs-fossil-fuels/

Solar Industry. (2016) Could the U.S. Switch to 100% renewable energy?. Retrieved from http://solarindustrymag.com/could-renewable-energy-supply-100-of-u-s-power