Leah
de
Wet
S P A C E
B A S E D
S O L A R
P O W E R
Fossil fuels used in various aspects of life such as cooking,
heating and in cars are quickly being replaced by more modern
electrical alternatives. However, these advancements have no
benefit to the environment as long as we still rely on crude oil
for reliable electricity in the grid. The UK may pledge to
completely abolish use of fossil fuels for energy in a few
decades, but there are still issues with forms of renewable
energy that are reliable and ineffective. During peak energy
consumption times, demand may be too high for renewable
energy sources alone to satisfy if the wind is not blowing or the
sun is not shining. Therefore, we need a more reliable source of
clean energy that is powerful enough to meet the demand of
consumers.
Solar power is an advantageous and promising renewable. It has
zero cost after initial installation and is widely available
throughout the world, as the Earth’s surface receives an
estimated 120 000 terawatts of solar radiation and the Sun will
shine for another 6.5 billion years according to NASA
predictions; this is 10 000 times more energy hitting the earth
every second than the total energy usage of the world. Thus,
solar energy is a very powerful form of energy production and
is sustainable in the long term. However, it also has major
drawbacks such as its unreliability due to variation in light
intensity. Due to the absence of sunlight, solar power cannot be
generated at night, and less is available during the winter,
although this is when energy consumption is higher. Solar
power is also fairly ineffective in places that are often cloudy,
such as the UK. If we are to move forward as a society with
purely clean forms of energy we need to solve these problems.