PV Gap

Russell Said:

How much is the benefit of solar panels?

We Answered:

Solar power panels use sunlight to generate electricity.
Solar power cells can also refer to cells that heat up water or another fluid and use the heat from that.

Cons:
- They do not generate as much power on cloudy or very much at all on rainy days.
- They do not generate power at night when it is most needed.
- They have to be kept clean to work right (this kills many Mars probes).
- They are expensive and at best 28% efficient, but solar cells with 40% efficiency are under development.
- Fields of them would be an eye sore.
- They can be fragile, but technology under development can fix that.
- Although the technology is old it still needs a lot of work.

Pros:
- They have no moving parts.
- They require little man power to maintain or supervision
- They can be created fairly economically and with new technology (still being worked on) they can be printed out like circuit boards.
- They are made of boron and silicon, which is dirt (sand) cheap.
- Sunlight is free, renable and requires no fossile fuels or persiable or products in limited supplies.
- They can be integrated into existing roofing structure and so not be an eye sore.

Carolyn Said:

What are the benefits of solar panels, and is it really an efficient way of heating a house?

We Answered:

heating, no. Providing renewable power in a very inexpensive way, definitely.

Steve Said:

What are the social, economic, and environmental benefits of solar panels?

We Answered:

The question is a bit slanted. It is my opinion that there are not many of any kind of benefit with solar panels.

The mining process is difficult and the materials needed are rare. Some of them are dangerous to the miners.

It would be wonderful if we could all get clean power, power that does not depend on contaminating the atmosphere, or making water fit for nothing, but such is not the case with Solar power. There is just too little power produced for the amount of money needed to produce the panel. Sometime when your driiving down the highway, you might find a sign powered by a solar panel. Look at the size of it. My estimate is that they are 60 cm wide by about 90 cm long (just a guess. They are fenced in). That's about 2 feet by 3 feet if you still use that system. The signs are not particularly huge ones. If you need that much power to run that little amount, what will it take to heat a house? A panel in Canada that produces 60 watts comes from a store called Canadian Tire. They cost over 500 dollars if Canadian Tire still has them.

Power for 1 light bulb = $500.00 Do you think it's worth it?

Will the price come down? Not likely. Pure Silicon Oxide is needed and that stiff though common enough on the earth's surface, is quite rare in its pure form.

That's the problem with every alternative method of producing power that we have so far. Either it involves a technology that does not produce much power (like wave power -- you know power from ocean waves moving a platform up and down) or it is really expensive from either an environmental or manufacturing point of view or both. For example atomic power which shreds up the water temperature after you get the plant built. The building of an atomic energy plant is a real headache. There is so much red tape to go through and so much conventional energy needed to build it that it takes years to make back what has been invested in it.

You may think that hydroelectricity is a worth while alternative. Ask an environmentalist if they think so.

I know I've strayed a bit, but I'm trying to point out to you that accepting the propaganda that a new energy is right around the corner if only we buy into it is a little like believing in the tooth fairy. The problem is that the amount of energy needed is so large that only hydrocarbons can produce the energy we need at this time and do it economically. Natural Gas is abundant but not infinitely so and that is our only alternative at this time.

Solar Panels are a pipe dream.

They are meant for a public who like George W Bush (the second Buth) thought ethanol would solve the energy crisis. He soon discovered that it took more energy to produce the ethanol than was returned by burning it. Now let's hope you get an answer from someone who works in the industry, so you get a balanced view. I have seen such a person on Yahoo Answers.

Dwayne Said:

what are the benefits of solar paneling?

We Answered:

1. Lower your dependence on your local utility, by permitting you to have power during blackouts, storms, and other disasters.
2. When your local utility is functioning well, allows you to go of grid temporarily or full-time depending on the total installed power you got.
3. Helps the community and the nation by easing the demand of total power and U.S. dependence on fossil fuels.
4. When combined with wind and/or hydro, as well as passive solar heating, it can provide a total solution for electricity without using any local utility power at all.

With the prices dropping as manufacturing technology improves, the choice of installation becomes more attractive. Prices now are as low as $3 per watt of solar panel (plus installation) http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/solar_pa…

I have used and own solar panels and think they're great!

Darren Said:

Can one benefit from solar panels?

We Answered:

Solar panels are very effective ways to collect, store, and use energy. However at this time they still are not incredibly cost effective. People scream and shout about being green, however being green needs to be practical. If an electric bill costs triple what you pay now just for being green that seems like crap to me. It kind of reminds me of organic food. (If labeled organic and 99 cent item costs 5 bucks.) The sad thing is if only solar panels were massed produced they could be a method for collection of electricity. However currently they are only used either for demonstration purposes or scientific use. Mankind way of thinking about energy needs to change before this can be seriously seen as a method of energy.

Jennie Said:

what are the benefits of having solar panels on your house ?

We Answered:

Alternately to what everyone else has said there are also water heating solar panels. Cold water to the water heater is routed to the solar panels on the roof. This reduces both the amount of energy used for water heating and air conditioning.