Opposing Viewpoints of Solar Power
Cost: Installing solar panels on a home can cost between $18,000 and $40,000. Depending how long you stay in your home, you can recoup some of this loss with lower electricity bills and tax benefits. For homeowners looking to buy residential solar panels, the average price is less than $3.00 per watt in some places in the US and almost $8.00 per watt in other places. Currently, it can cost 20 cents or more to produce a kilowatt-hour of electricity from a solar-power system, depending on the area and the incentives offered. However, generating electricity from coal or natural gas can cost anywhere from 2 to 10 cents a kilowatt-hour. The EIA (Energy Information Administration) estimates that it is the most expensive form of electricity among current technologies costing about $396 per megawatt hour for PV. This is double EIA’s estimate of the total cost of wind and almost four times the cost of conventional coal.
Environmental: Solar cells are hardly clean and heavy metal can leach into groundwater when disposed at the end of their cycle. Photovoltaic manufacturers also employ toxic and explosive compounds that lead to unintended health risks for workers and local residents. Solar farms, like the one pictured above, use up farmland that could be used for growing food. Also, huge solar farms could increase the warming of the planet and endanger the wildlife in the surrounding areas. Lastly, solar power facilities can adversely affect native vegetation and wildlife in many ways, including loss of habitat and interference with rainfall and drainage.
Government: Many state and local governments have proposed state tariffs and rate hikes to slow the use of solar power. In Maryland, a new bill raises the per-kilowatt hour charge form 35 to 40 cents, a cost which is passed on to ratepayers. Renewable energy is dependent on the government. As of 2008, renewable energy received nearly $5 billon in federal subsidies. Even with these subsides, however, renewable energy is still four times as expensive as fossil fuel in generating energy. Solar energy receives over $24 in subsidies per-megawatt hour versus fifty cents per megawatt hour for coal. Republicans are shining a spotlight on the failure of Solyndra, a California solar company that received a half-billion dollar loan from the Obama administration and later went out of business, showing that government alone cannot sustain renewable energy like solar or wind. Republicans express support for education programs aimed at consumers and allowing more drilling for oil and gas.
Environmental: Solar cells are hardly clean and heavy metal can leach into groundwater when disposed at the end of their cycle. Photovoltaic manufacturers also employ toxic and explosive compounds that lead to unintended health risks for workers and local residents. Solar farms, like the one pictured above, use up farmland that could be used for growing food. Also, huge solar farms could increase the warming of the planet and endanger the wildlife in the surrounding areas. Lastly, solar power facilities can adversely affect native vegetation and wildlife in many ways, including loss of habitat and interference with rainfall and drainage.
Government: Many state and local governments have proposed state tariffs and rate hikes to slow the use of solar power. In Maryland, a new bill raises the per-kilowatt hour charge form 35 to 40 cents, a cost which is passed on to ratepayers. Renewable energy is dependent on the government. As of 2008, renewable energy received nearly $5 billon in federal subsidies. Even with these subsides, however, renewable energy is still four times as expensive as fossil fuel in generating energy. Solar energy receives over $24 in subsidies per-megawatt hour versus fifty cents per megawatt hour for coal. Republicans are shining a spotlight on the failure of Solyndra, a California solar company that received a half-billion dollar loan from the Obama administration and later went out of business, showing that government alone cannot sustain renewable energy like solar or wind. Republicans express support for education programs aimed at consumers and allowing more drilling for oil and gas.
My Counter Argument
Considering the opposing viewpoints on solar power, the issues cannot outweigh the benefits and the appeal that solar power and other renewable energy can have. Even with the high cost of solar energy, many states provide solar incentives or tax breaks to drive down the cost of installation and how much you actually pay per hour. For example, North Carolina gives a 35% tax credit against the total cost of the system. Also, local utility companies are mandated to buy back the production created by the solar unit through net metering. Another reason the cost of solar power is a weak argument to use against solar energy is that you could save 40% on the cost of solar electric system by buying a kit and doing the installation yourself. Lastly, to cut the cost of solar power, homeowners could use community solar farms or solar gardens. These structures allow community members to each buy a share of a larger central solar installation.
The counter argument for the environmental issue against solar power is that it reduces air pollution. However, it has no effect on the climate and no effect on the landscape. Whereas, to obtain coal, they stripped the land of vegetation where flooding can be made worse by this process. After reading and reviewing articles against solar power, I found that the many of the concerns about solar energy are weak and the articles that support these views tend to use bloated words/phrases and inconsistent data. Some of the articles are even missing information needed to form an educated opinion.
The counter argument for the environmental issue against solar power is that it reduces air pollution. However, it has no effect on the climate and no effect on the landscape. Whereas, to obtain coal, they stripped the land of vegetation where flooding can be made worse by this process. After reading and reviewing articles against solar power, I found that the many of the concerns about solar energy are weak and the articles that support these views tend to use bloated words/phrases and inconsistent data. Some of the articles are even missing information needed to form an educated opinion.