The environmental and financial benefits of domestic solar power

The use of Solar PV panels to generate electricity over conventional methods such as burning fossil fuels like coal bring many obvious environmental and financial benefits with it. Fossil fuels like coal and oil are burned in most industrialised nations in order to produce the energy needed to run all manner of machines, commercial buildings and domestic homes, however the environmental cost at which this is done is high. The burning of these fossil fuels results in dangerous green house gas emissions such as carbon dioxide and methane, which has been recognised as playing a huge part in global warming. This has been scientifically proven now and the rise in temperature of the globe is directly linked to industrialisation and the burning of these toxic fuels.

The effects of global warming are rising sea levels, floods, drought and powerful storms. Scientists believe that it is necessary to reduce the emissions of green house gases in to the atmosphere before climate change is irreversible. The benefits of using sustainable methods of power such as solar energy is largely environmentally beneficial in that no emissions are let off through the use or generation of solar power and it is the most sustainable way of generating energy and electricity currently in use. By choosing solar energy to power domestic homes it is said to reduce homeowners toxic emissions by many thousand tonnes per year. There are also benefits to using solar energy over other methods of generating energy such as nuclear power. Nuclear power was also thought to be clean and environmentally friendly too but there is also a by-product to nuclear fission and that is nuclear radioactive waste, which can be dangerous to transport and potentially hazardous to store also. If nuclear waste escapes it can poison the ground and water supply in the process.

Solar panel installation in a home can help to decrease the demand for power from these traditional sources, reducing the amount of toxins and wastes produced from them. There are not only environmental benefits of switching to solar energy but also financial gains to be had. The government in the UK have introduced a scheme that allows homeowners to earn from installing solar panels on the roofs of their homes, these provide tax free index linked payments, which can actually make financial sense. After the initial set up and installation costs involved with opting to use Solar Energy, households will start to see a financial benefit as they begin to see a drop in their conventional energy bills and together with diminishing the environmental impact of opting for a greener alternative it seems like going solar is a good option all round.