Amanda Leitch
Dr. Baldwin
SLU Festival of Science 2001 Poster Presentation
Solar Power: Can We Harness It at Home?
We may all not like to admit to the problems the globe is facing in
regards to global warming and ozone layer depletion, however there is one
thing we cannot all deny. Our supply of fossil fuels is diminishing,
and diminishing rapidly at that. A new, sustainable generation of
energy sources needs to be established. A leader of this new generation
will be solar power. Its applications in the home make this source
of electricity highly practical for families. Also, with the prices
for systems of solar power dropping and more and more government support,
solar power is becoming economically more pleasing than coal and oil.
Simple applications into the home are what make
solar power more pleasing than other sources of renewable technology.
Solar panels can easily be incorporated into the structure of homes and
other buildings and building design can incorporate solar technologies
without the generally expensive panels. There are no moving parts,
so there is nothing to tinker with. Set it up, leave it alone, and
watch the electricity flow.
Why use the crutch of the grid when you can supply
your own power? No sense in paying the ever-exceeding electricity
bills when you can more simply pay an upfront cost, similar to that of
financing a new car, and obtain your energy for decades to come.
If we want these future decades to come we need to stop being set in the
inefficient, wasteful and somewhat greedy ways of our fossil fuel heritage
and move towards a new generation of renewable energy. Solar energy
is one of the best options of renewable energy.