People used to consume only renewable energy, burning of wood, which produces energy. As technology advances, the demand for alternative sources of energy emerged. Fossil fuel was seen to be the solution to such problems. The vast amount of energy released makes them one of the most efficient sources of energy. As the world moves into the industrial phase, more machinery were developed, cars becomes a popular mode of transport. These machineries require fossil fuel to power them. Hence, the demand for fossil fuel grew and people developed a reliance of this efficient source of energy.
However, over the year, people started to realize that fossil fuel is not a sustainable source of energy. I take a great amount of time before the Earth can replenish or create more fossil fuel. As the same time, the combustion of fossil fuel release massive amount of pollutants into the environment, leading to global warming. If we continue to use large amount of fossil fuel daily, it will soon lead to depletion and further pollute the environment.
The search for alternative sources of energy became a pressing need. Not only do they have to be sustainable, it will be beneficial if such sources of energy will not pollute the environment. For example, although nuclear is able to produce large amount of energy using minimal resource, it may not be seen as a feasible solution. This is because the by products produced, nuclear waste are harmful to the environment and required to be kept for many years before it is safe to be disposed. If any accident were to occur, it will result to disastrous consequence.
One of the most popular forms of alternative source of energy today is solar power. Solar panels that are able to absorb the energy of the sunlight and convert them to electrical energy for powering appliances can be installed on roofs of houses, building or even in an open field. This is sustainable source of energy as it will not deplete any resources form the Earth and will not produce harmful by products. This technology is commonly used in several countries, where houses are fitted with solar panels on their roofs mainly to provide energy for water heating. In countries that advocate use of green energy, there are fields allocated for the purpose of harnessing solar power to provide electricity the cities.
However, several limitations are that solar power has a low efficiency in converting energy form the sun. Large panels are required to be used to absorb the solar power. Hence, in places that are energy intensive and facing space constrain, the use of solar power might be limited. Another limitation would be that in areas that are shady or rainy most of the time, such places would not be able to make use of solar power.
In the recent year, intensive research and development has been done in search of thinner, flexible and more efficient solar panel so as to overcome their limitations. Paper solar panel could possibly be a solution to sustainable energy.
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