Humanity has always needed energy to perform work and make items, and for much of history, this energy came from simple human and animal labor. The Industrial Revolution changed that, with steam power fueling trains and factories alike to to transform society and technology. And starting in the late 1800s, electricity was also harnessed, and it spurred technology still further. Today, many fossil fuel power plants are in operation around the world, but they are facing some competition. Clean energy sources such as solar panels and wind farms are gaining momentum, and many nations and cities around the globe are realizing the advantages of solar panel installation and hiring solar panel installers to get the job done. A solar panel array may be be built on as small or large a scale as needed, from a few panels on a house’s roof (complete with solar power system batteries) to huge arrays in the wild that can power entire neighborhoods at a time. What is there to know about these rooftop arrays and solar power system batteries?
The Benefits of Solar Power
There are good reasons why many European nations, and why many American cities and states, are switching over to clean energy for their electricity needs. To start with, solar energy is effectively infinite, as the sun exists on a truly astronomical scale and is impossible to mine out (unlike a coal seam or a natural gas pocket). In fact, more solar energy flows across the Earth each day than is used in all of industrial civilization. This means that solar power can not only provide our current energy needs, but accommodate future growth in the energy grid, too.
It should also be mentioned that solar panels don’t ever pollute, as they don’t create any byproducts no matter how much electricity they are generating. No gases, no liquids, no radiation, nothing. This makes solar energy friendly for the environment, since these panels can replace entire fossil fuel power plants if enough of them are working together. And finally, the installation of solar panels and solar power system batteries employs many Americans (and the same is true for jobs in engineering and repairing these panels). This field is fairly young, but already has a strong presence in the American economy. States such as Texas, North Carolina, and California in particular are pursuing robust solar panel installation programs.
Installing Those Panels
Where can solar panels and solar power system batteries be installed? That is one of the advantages of this technology: it is flexible. On the smallest scale, these solar panels can be installed on the roof of a residential house at the homeowner’s request. An interested homeowner may look up and contact local solar panel installation companies, then hire one to send over a crew. Those workers will look over the house’s current electrical wiring, then install brackets on the roof and thread the correct wiring throughout the house. Next, crews will install the solar panels onto those roof brackets, and then inspectors will look over the entire setup and ensure that it is ready for operation. Finally, the house will be disconnected from the public electric grid, and the house’s solar panels will activate and generate electricity. And for cloudy days or for night time energy use, the house will have solar power system batteries that can act as backups. During the day, the solar panels will charge up those batteries, and thus the solar panel array has no blind spots. An array similar to this may be used on the roof of a larger building too, such as a school, office building, or a bank.
What about solar panels on a large scale? This is possible too, and solar panels may number in the hundreds or even thousands in a large array. Most often, these arrays are fenced off or set up outside city limits, where there is enough room and the arrays won’t get in anyone’s way. Often built in sunny and arid areas, these large arrays can collect enough solar power to fuel an entire city block or neighborhood at a time, and that allows these arrays to replace a nearby fossil fuel power plant. This goes a long way toward reducing air pollution.