No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post. ecotality.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Climate change is happening, despite the verbiage and rhetoric of the deniers. Renewable energy minimizes carbon pollution and has a much lower impact on our environment. Meaning around 130 % of growth in only 3 years. Another noticeable factor that affects carbon emissions is how the electricity is generated. For instance, the people from Portable Electric have designed a renewable power source solution for the off-grid sector called VOLTstack. States are then required to develop and submit their plans to regulate emissions in accordance with ACE guidelines for EPA review and approval. The first, and one of the most dramatic consequences, are rising water levels. As a reference, nearly 177 GW of installed capacity were available in 2014, but in 2017 around 402 GW of installed capacity are available worldwide. The rule repeals and replaces the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan which was never put into effect due to Supreme Court Intervention. Per capita, the U.S. releases 17 metric tons of CO2 emissions each year. Solar panels do not release any emissions as they generate electricity. All of that melted ice goes to the ocean and is now attributed to sea level rise in the US and all over the world, even reaching distant locations like Indonesia, China, and Japan. That same year, the U.S. also emitted nearly 5.27 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As technology improves in the renewable energy sector, efficiency rates increase and the cost per watt for installation will fall. While scientists like Dettinger cannot connect specific weather events to global warming, they predict that globally, storms will tend to intensify in magnitude, while a growing portion of Earth’s land mass will be forced to contend with increasingly severe droughts. Heat waves are also a direct consequence of climate change. All of these contributions made by solar power plants are valuable in our fight against climate change, but what is climate change and how is it affecting our planet? According to the EIA, in 2018, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Iraq were the top five source countries for U.S. petroleum. Stronger hurricanes, storms, snowfalls, hailstorms, and sandstorms can also be attributed to consequences of climate change that will intensify due to radical temperature changes. There are also many health hazards caused by fossil fuels – contaminated water, land and air can lead to respiratory problems, cardiovascular issues and even cancer. One of the best ways that most of us can contribute to the fight against climate change is for more people to hire solar companies to install solar panels on their homes. Last updated: January 8, 2021. Making the change over to solar energy reduces the need for burning fossil fuels. This translates into 25 years where you do not need to worry about electricity generation and where no additional environmental damage will be done to continue the production of energy. As time is running out, the brightest minds in renewable energy are looking up. As you might expect, the reason for this movement toward renewable energy is not to save or make money but is rather a direct commitment to saving and protecting our planet. Meaning no carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide needed to generate electricity that would be harmful for the human’s health. As such, global warming is not something we can stop tomorrow, and decisions made today about energy usage will have long-lasting impacts thousands of years into the future. How are Fossil Fuels Extracted from the Ground? This translates into less burning and more materials that can be used for other purposes and mainly to the manufacturing of new or refurbished solar panels. The states that boast lower carbon emissions tend to be those generating non-carbon, cleaner electricity like hydropower or solar. The Fourth National Climate Assessment Report from the U.S Global Change Research Program, released in November 2018, has announced an alarming top date to make a significant impact on carbon dioxide reductions. Sunlight comes down to the Earth. People generally focus on the carbon emissions from these sources at the moment of electricity generation, but they seem to forget one thing, the effects during the extraction process. Thanks to its availability, battles over who controls or owns renewable resources (like sun and wind) are, at least for now, less likely – unlike with fossil fuels. New York on the other hand, with the lowest per capita CO2 emissions in the country, has a high population density and a strong mass transit system. And it takes millions of years to accumulate the amount of fossil fuels that we will consume in 200 years. ... look at wind energy … Biofuels can help solve climate change, especially with a carbon tax ... we can increase our use of clean energy, particularly wind and solar power. Electric vehicles, already increasingly common on the roadways, and rows of wind turbines generating clean energy are two of the more recognizable technological solutions for climate change… As the economy grows stronger, people travel more, and simply burn more gasoline, emissions increase. Most of its residences are multi-family units that offer more efficient heating and cooling systems, and with the ninth-highest electricity price in the U.S., people are motivated to save energy. This avoids the use of other older sources of light like kerosene lamps or candles in regions where there is no access to electricity, avoiding the risks of fire that can be harmful to the environment and for the communities. Destruction of the ozone layer is also a secondary consequence of climate change. Solar panels can reduce climate change. Massive oil spills and natural gas leaks can also wreak havoc on the environment. To reduce the effect of this sector on carbon emissions, it is necessary to lower the energy intensity by enhancing vehicle and engine performance and substituting oil-based products by natural gas, bio-methane, biofuels or hydrogen. The great advantage of solar panels is that they can be recycled, extracting mainly aluminum, glass and some minerals like silicon, copper, and polymers. Solar energy presents a set of advantages that can be used to offset carbon emissions and investing in solar for your house will also help your wallet. There are a few possible causes for this radical change and we can see them as follows: While solar irradiance fluctuations and volcanic eruptions are naturally occurring processes, all of the other causes are directly attributed to human activity. This makes the U.S. reliant on other countries for much of its energy source. Instead of depending on plugging in a campground site which electrical systems may not receive proper maintenance, it’s better to purchase solar panels for camping. Coal contributes more than ” target=”_blank”>seven times the amount of CO2 emissions compared to solar. These variations are due to a number of factors: In Wyoming for example, the winter is cold with average low temperatures in January between 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Moreover, portable solar panels have very important uses in rural regions where access to electricity is limited. Insects may end up laying their eggs on the panels, while birds end up hurt or dead as they crash into panels. They are not contaminating, their energy resource is renewable and inexhaustible, they can be recycled, and every kWh of energy coming from solar panels is a kWh of energy that is not generated in contaminating facility plants that expel greenhouse gases. Written by qualified solar engineer Aniket. Reduce the amount of products you use. The Ozone Hole (Source – Union of Concerned Scientists in the USA). As an expert working in the field of climate change for more than 20 years, Dettinger is most alarmed by the rate of climate change that is occurring. However, when calculating the amount of water used to clean solar panels, the number comes out to 2/3 cup of water per megawatt-hour. The U.S. could generate much of its own electricity. Due to this cumulative effect, even if we plan several generations ahead, the CO2 will still be in the atmosphere, making our planet warmer. For example, sea ice is much more fragile than once thought and instead of taking 150 years to break down, scientists are seeing it break down now. With enough space, solar panels can be erected just about anywhere – on a parcel of land, carports, rooftops, the wings of a plane, cars and with advances in technology, they will even replace windowpanes. China also made incredible contributions that reach 20 MT of CO2, and 25,000 GWh of energy injected to the grid. Average global temperatures show a similar trend, and all of the to… Sourcing solar energy is relatively simple. 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