If Solar Power Is So Hot, How Come We Don’t Use It More?

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Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Solar Power Systems
Photovoltaic power systems have a lot of built-in advantages. They run silently. They are environmentally friendly. There’s virtually no maintenance to do. They last a long time. Over their lifespan, they save you a heap of money.

BUT, nothing in life is perfect, is it? And solar power is no exception.

Despite all the advantages, using solar energy may not be the right choice for you and your family. There are disadvantages too.

1. Your solar panels will still collect sun energy on cloudy days but not quite so much as on sunny days. This means that if you live in a cloudy climate the amount of stored electric energy available to you could be considerably less.

2. At night, there is no sunshine to collect. You are reliant on sunshine gathered during the day and stored as electricity in a battery. This means that you might need to conserve energy at night - when you need it most – unless plenty of sun power has been collected earlier.

3. If you get frequent hail-storms, this is definitely an issue, and before installing a photovoltaic power system you should get an expert to look into that for you…

4. Purchasing the necessary solar panels and getting your solar power system installed costs more than just asking the power company to hook you up!!

Other Possible Drawbacks to Using Solar Power

Your solar power system becomes as much a part of your house as the electric power wires running through your walls. So taking your solar panels with you if you decide to move would mean disconnection and reconnection – a lot of fuss, expense, difficulty and inconvenience.

If you’re a home owner, that’s probably not an issue. In all likelihood, installing your photovoltaic power system will add value to your home in the same way that getting air conditioning installed would. But if you’re renting, then you might want to talk to your landlord about whether you’d get back the cost of installation if you should decide to move … or choose a portable solar power system instead of a permanent fixture.

Some people think that solar power won’t work well with certain electrical devices, that heating bath water will be a difficulty, for example. Actually, that’s not true. You just need to use a slightly different kind of system. In Cyprus, where I spend a lot of time, new built homes have solar power systems installed for the express purpose of heating up water. Cyprus gets a lot of sunshine, but also lots of cloud, so most people who live there use a combination of solar heating and grid electric power.
Only you can decide how cautious you want to be, but why not have the best of both worlds when it’s on offer? No matter where you live, no matter how sunny a spot you call your own, it’s still a prudent idea to stay hooked up to the power company’s grid as a form of back-up electricity provision, just in case your solar power system doesn’t always meet all your needs.