Solar energy is a perfect example of a renewable energy source. It feeds on the heat and light of the sun, a resource that will never be exhausted. It's free, sustainable and completely inexhaustible. This energy can be converted into electricity or used for heating, air or water.
Unlike other energy sources such as fossil fuels, the Sun does not run out of energy to provide it.
Sunlight, or solar energy
, can be directly used to heat and illuminate homes and other buildings, to generate electricity, and to heat hot water, solar cooling, and a variety of commercial and industrial uses. In addition to being renewable, solar energy is sometimes referred to as a green energy source, since it has no negative environmental consequences. Even without solar or wind energy (which tend to work reliably at different times and seasons, making deficits less likely), all electricity supply varies.This transition has been accelerated by the collapse of costs. Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that solar and wind energy are the cheapest source for 91 percent of global electricity, but misinformation and myths hold it back. No fuel is needed, and this means that solar energy can generate large amounts of electricity without the uncertainty and expense of securing a fuel supply. On the contrary, the many types of renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar energy, are constantly replenished and never depleted.
The report states that while the energy supply in the fully renewable energy system will be covered by a combination of sources, solar and wind energy will lead the transition. Solar panels produce electricity by transforming the continuous flow of energy from the sun into electricity. A new solar park in the United Arab Emirates, famous for its abundant surface area and sunny climate, has just purchased the world's lowest solar energy price of 1.35 cents per kilowatt-hour. The International Renewable Energy Agency says that the cost of electricity from solar photovoltaics fell by 82% in the last decade, while the costs of onshore and offshore wind energy fell by 39% and 29% respectively.
A third option to stabilize the grid as renewable energy generation increases is diversity, both geography and terrestrial wind technology, offshore wind, solar panels, solar thermal, geothermal, hydroelectric, municipal or industrial or agricultural waste burning. Solar panels offer minimal operating costs compared to other types of energy production after installation. When solar panels are used to generate energy, no greenhouse gas emissions are emitted into the environment. Like any manufactured product, manufacturing quality solar modules requires resources and energy, which means that producing solar energy has at least some environmental impact.
In addition, Carbon Tracker shows that if humans decided to get all their energy from solar energy alone, the required land would occupy only 450,000 km2, only 0.3% of the world's total land area, and less of the space currently occupied by fossil fuel industry operations.
