Although the popularity of solar energy technology
continues to grow, its slow growth rate is being criticized. It is a difficult competitor vis-a-vis advances in different mining
and processing techniques for normal energy producing sources such as fossil
fuels. In some countries, incentives help the steep price, and research proofs
that historical cost of the PV systems have continued to drop. Solar energy, being
a predictable and abundant resource will have an important role to play as we
find ways to curb climate change. Researchers such as Raymond Kurzweil working
with the National Association of Engineers state that solar power could
provide 100% of worldwide energy needs in just 20 years. He continues to add
that solar power is doubling every two years and may grow by 1,000 percent in
next two decades (livescience.com). “The weather is going crazy!”…“the weather isn’t easily predictable these days!” These comments/questions may be one of the many we hear or make when discussing with peers. The fact is that this is actually correct. The weather seems to be fluctuating at a very high pace with record cold and hot temperatures, record hurricanes causing record floods – infact record everything. In just one decade we’ve had four devastating hurricanes and typhoons with fatal consequences in Japan, the East coast of the United States, and Central America. We have recorded terrible drought conditions in central Africa and the list goes on. This is not the wrath of ‘Poseidon’ as most skeptics would explain. The scientific community understands, and explains that these events are as an on-going effect of climate change brought forth by the greenhouse gas effect. Now – what is the greenhouse gas effect?
Thegreenhouse effectis a process that occurs naturally
within the earth’s atmosphere. As we all know, heat from the sun is radiated
towards the earth; gases called ‘greenhouse gases’ which include water vapor,
carbon dioxide, etc. present in the lower part of the atmosphere capture and
keep some of this heat to warm the earth for habitable conditions. Scientists
state that about 31% of this radiation is reflected back into space by the
earth’s surface (usually from snow and ice); only 20% of the heat is absorbed
by the atmosphere. This is a necessary process because without this heat
the earth will be much colder than it is today. Human activities result
in the over concentration of these greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere which leads to the trapping of heat that supposed to
be radiated back into space and instead re-radiated again back into earth. This
makes the earth warmer than it should naturally be.
Research has proven an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which is directly proportional to the rising temperatures today. It is of course difficult to realize or easily showcase this because of the difference in temperatures in the different climatic regions and seasons of the world. The center that studies these scenarios known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) quotes“Our ability to quantify the human influence on global climate is currently limited because the expected signal is still emerging from the noise of natural variability, and because there are uncertainties in key factors…Nevertheless, the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate”.
Every nation produces some quantity of greenhouse gasses through the process of industrialization as they produce and use energy to drive, heat homes, and run businesses. With the developed world leading in the greenhouse gas production percentages, international rules have been put in place that require developing countries to regularly report their greenhouse gas emissions. Advances in solar technology give us the unique opportunity to curb our carbon footprint by going renewable.
