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Solar power has long been a minor power source compared to mighty oil. As oil prices rise and conflicts occur in oil countries, perhaps the issue needs to be revisited.

Solar vs. Oil

The industrial revolution was built on the back of oil and coal. There is no denying that solar played no part whatsoever. This is particularly true since solar cells were not invented until the 1950s! That being said, it appears indisputable that we have reached or are approaching a new debate about how we deal with our insatiable thirst for power.

At first glance, the mere mention of a comparison of solar to oil as an energy source sounds laughable. It is laughable when we are talking about large scale energy production, but the tide is turning.

In a comparison of solar to oil, solar power has numerous advantages. The power source for solar, the sun, is free. Solar is available as a resource in every country, regardless of location, economic strength and so on since the sun shines everywhere. The process of converting sunlight into electricity or heating produces no greenhouse gases. Whether you believe in global warming or not, solar still is advantageous in that it doesn’t produce pollution. If you live in a big city, you know how much pollution is in the air. You can often see it!

Flipping the coin, oil has some serious advantages over solar. We have already developed technology to efficiently convert oil to power. The cost of converting industry, vehicles and such to solar or any other power source would be huge. Oil also has an advantage in that it is easier to use in a wide variety of applications, such as vehicles. One simply can’t power a vehicle with solar power, not on a practical level. Finally, it is easier to use oil to provide power to massive energy platforms, such as electricity for New York City.

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For large scale energy needs, oil is still a superior choice to solar as an energy resource. The technology simply does not exist to provide solar energy solutions for vehicles, national electrical grid systems and so on. Advancements in solar technology, however, may be changing this fact in the very near future. Technologies such as quantum dots, essentially microscopic solar panels that could exist in the paint on your home, may make oil a thing of the past.

For now, oil remains the backbone upon which our energy needs sit. In the next 5, 10 or 20 years, however, new technological applications may change this. Don’t believe me? Then consider the fact oil companies such as Chevron are investing heavily in solar companies.

Solar energy is all around us, but most people don’t notice it. For instance, the power source for many emergency phones on freeways is powered by it. This brings us the subject of solar post lights.

Solar Power for Post Lighting

Solar energy started to come into popularity in the 1970s, when technology advances combined with massive oil price increases to make solar a popular alternative energy source.

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Back then, the world was just starting to become more aware about the risks of using so many non-renewable resources, and people wanted to decrease their dependence on fossil fuels.

Now, solar power is being used by many different people all across the world, both in big and small ways. One of the small, but still important ways it is being used is in solar post lights.

Often, people want to light their driveways or backyards. Aside from running expensive extension cords to lamps, using battery after battery, or running lines in underground pipes, there really weren’t many choices to power their lamps. Now, solar post lights are regularly used by those who want the convenience of not having to change batteries, and those who want to save money on their electric bill.

Solar post lights work by using very small solar panels, which are attached to an energy collector. These solar panels stay out in the sun all day, attached to your post, and they soak up all of the sun’s solar energy.

The energy collector in many of the solar post lights is a NiCad rechargeable battery, most of which can go up to 1000 charges! That is about three years. The light that is powered by the battery is an LED light, which takes very little power but emits a bright light. LEDs can last up to 25 years, making solar post lights a very economical investment. These lights will emit their soft glow for many hours during the night, depending on the amount of solar energy they received during the day.

Other advantages to solar lights are that there are no wires needed, so installation is very easy. Also, you can often buy the lights individually, so there is no need to buy a large package of the lights if you only need a few to illuminate your way. Each light runs independent of the others, so if one light malfunctions, the rest will still be there and glowing.

Whether you choose to buy a few or a lot of the solar post lights, they are still the most economical and ecology minded choice for your driveway and fence lighting needs. With a long lifespan and easy installation, these lamps are the perfect thing to shine through the dark of your front yard. For more information on The Green Buzz Power, Go Green For Power!

In this piece of work that I am about to commence with I will discuss whether or not it is wise to convert or at least supplement your home electricity source with solar power. This is a worthwhile undertaking because there are many things in this world that are billed as cost or time saving and are actually the opposite when looked at with the right measurements or perspective.

So the question is, “is solar power what it claims to be—a clean source of energy that is cheaper than other forms, or is it merely a fad that makes people think that they are being kind to the environment or cost effective.”

So let’s talk about the claims. Number one: a clean source of energy. When you think about it the energy from the sun is about as clean and as natural as you get. There is no chemical reaction that creates an undesirable waste product, there is no burning, no smoke, no extra gases formed. So in this way—yes it is clean. But you also have to look at how you harness that energy. If you have to create undesirable waste such as plastic or other materials that can’t be naturally broken down; or you have to use energy that is not clean such as coal or other fossil fuel burning to create the product than you are at least decreasing the benefit of the clean power supply.

In the case of solar power you do have to create the cells which are made of plastic as well as the wiring and the housings for these cells. So there is some unseemliness to the cleanliness of this power source. The question is, does the benefit outweigh the costs? And in the case of solar power, it does seem that if the units are maintained and last for a long time they eventually will come out ahead. Not like cloth diapers which would, it seems, be a lot better for the environment than their disposable counterparts from huggies. The fact is that the bleach used to clean the cloth diapers is much worse for the environment than the disposable diaper which will eventually (though it takes many years) break down almost entirely.

Second solar power is a cheaper source of energy than other options. This again seems very true on the surface. After all everyone has access to the sun and the sun doesn’t charge does it? But then again the solar cells cost quite a pretty penny so it will take a while to pay them off with the cost savings. And you will have to maintain them paying a technician to come out and fix the units with expensive parts. So is it cost effective? Well again it seems as though over the long run yes solar power is a way to cheapen your energy costs considerably. Not like recycling which boasts of a way to save the environment and cheapen the cost of those materials that are being recycled. Well both may not be as true as stated prompting many communities to “recycle” the materials that they collect from well meaning residents right into the trash.

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