Running head: SOLAR ENERGY 1

Solar Energy: A Literature Review

Francisco Vasquez
The University of Texas at El Paso
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Abstract
The energy sources that are widely used today, such as natural gas, are not going last forever.
Eventually those resources will be exhausted and humans will be forced to find another reliable
source of energy. There is one form of energy that is extremely abundant and is seen in everyday
life. Sunlight. If the energy of the sun is harvested it could possibly provide more that what is
already being consumed by humans daily. However, many questions are brought up about this
seemingly unreliable source of power. This literature review will explore if solar energy really is
the future of renewable energy.

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Solar Energy: A Literature Review
There is already many other alternative sources of energy that are being looked
into by researchers in order to eventually deal with the impending exhaustion of the planets
natural resources. These include solar, nuclear, wind, etc. However, the nuclear method is
dangerous and highly radioactive when something goes wrong, wind on the other hand, while
plentiful in some areas, can be very scarce and unreliable at times. Sunlight is everywhere and
has a huge amount of potential compared to the natural gases that are used today.
Many questions arise about solar energy however. It is still a fairly new innovation that is
yet to be implemented at a wide scale. There is many factors to consider when it comes to using
solar energy as our sole provider of energy, not just technological but economical as well. These
matters can be summed up into four questions:

1. Who would be interested in investing or using solar energy?

2. Can solar energy really by more productive and clean than our current sources of energy?

3. What advances have been made regarding the technological side of solar energy?

4. What are the constraints that are currently holding solar energy back?

Using data gathered from surveys as well as several other forms of information this literature
will explore and question if solar energy is reliable and if it really has the potential to be the
energy of the future.
Who would be interested in investing or using solar energy?

If solar energy had the potential and was completely efficient, who would be interested in
investing in or using solar energy? There are many individuals who could greatly benefit ny
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switching to solar power in their own homes. But not only would solar benefit individual
households. It could also be a great investment for companies or small businesses. Cutting down
on the electricity bill could be of great interest to a large company, especially for one with large
buildings and offices. However, for the general populace, the question is if there would be
consumers willing to try solar energy out. In order to help answer the main question research was
conducted through the use of a survey that was made available on social media, although it is on
a small scale, it should give an accurate representation of the general communitys interest in
solar power. Through the survey this question was asked: Would you switch to solar energy in
your home or business? The following results were collected:








According to the chart, %78.6 answered yes to the question: Would you switch to solar
energy in your home or business? While the remain %21.4 were unsure, this is most likely due
to the lack of further knowledge in solar energy. Concerning the common consumer, what would
appeal to them the most would be cheap prices. However, the results show that a majority of
them would be willing to switch to solar energy. With more information, perhaps more people
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could be persuaded to switch to solar energy, perhaps by showing them that solar energy could
be cheaper and monumentally safer for the environment. According to solar advocate Zachary
Shahan, in his article Is Solar Worth It? he explicitly says that although solar energy would
not be beneficial for everyone it would still be very useful for a considerable amount of
individuals, more than the amount of people for whom solar energy would only be an
inconvenience. It is clear that solar energy is something that consumers would be interested in.
However, houses with solar panels on their roofs are not a common sight. This is due to several
reasons that will be addressed by answering the other questions regarding solar energy.

Can solar energy really by more productive and clean than our current sources of
energy?

Through surveys and research it has been shown that solar energy could potentially be the
sole energy provider of the future. However, is solar energy really more efficient and
environmentally- friendly than the current energy source, coal and natural gas. The sun has
always been around, providing sunlight for life on earth for million of years. Fossil fuels and
oil on the other hand can be extremely difficult to acquire, and when acquired they have to be
processed and refined which creates dangerous gases. Finally, theyre burned to generate
electricity, which in turn creates carbon dioxide and dangerous greenhouse gases, which are
harmful to the atmosphere. A successful company called Solar for Good Homes, states these
two facts and two additional advantages that solar has over fossil fuels on their website for
consumers interested in solar energy. The two other issues that they presented was the cost of
consumer electricity and the human element. This company not only stated the environment
issues, excessive excavation and pollution, but the costs and possible conflicts that could
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arise over fossil fuels, such as one between countries. Solar energy is provided by the sun, so
it is almost always readily available, the means of collecting it, through the use of silicon
solar panels or photo-valtic panels, does not produce wastes harmful to the environment.
The productivity of solar energy relies on two important factors; the efficiency of the
technology used to collect sunlight and the location of this technology. The amount of
sunlight different areas and regions receive vary greatly. This is due to weather and climate
of the region. There is many corporations who have taken notice of this, therefore they build
solar panel farms in areas that receive sunlight a significant amount of time. However, as
mentioned before, this is not something seen commonly. The following is a map that the
Department of Energy has available on their website energy.gov:








This map shows the potential of solar energy of the different regions of the United States.
The red represents areas that have the largest amount of sunlight for the longest period of
time. This map shows that sunlight is abundant, and with the appropriate technology and
placing, solar energy could be much more productive than fossil fuels.
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What advances have been made regarding the technological side of solar energy?

So far, research has shown that solar energy can be clean, productive and that it has room
for growth. However, a lot of these factors depend on the efficiency of the technology used to
collect sunlight. There are many institutions conducting research on solar energy technologies,
such as improving the current solar panel or finding ways to intensifying the sunlight on solar
panels. These innovations could make other factors, such as location, less relevant. The
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a several ongoing research projects on their website
MIT technology review concerning solar energy. They go from improving the solar cells
themselves with the use of nano- technology to small curved glass that concentrates the sunlight
onto a small solar panel that collects sunlight more efficiently than traditional solar panels. These
innovations also seem to have one thing in common, improved efficiency while keeping the costs
of production as low as possible. If these new methods and inventions can be mass produced on
the market they could significantly reduce the costs of solar panels and bring the future of solar
energy closer than was initially expected.
Conclusion
Solar energy is essentially more desired, efficient, clean and is making significant
advances in research. The constraints of solar energy were location of solar panels, efficiency of
products, costs of the technology and the consumers reluctance to give solar energy a chance.
However, in this literature review, it has been established that there is people willing to switch to
solar. As well as proving that it is a clean and productive renewable energy that is making
significant progress. Solar definitely has a bright future as an important and essential source of
energy in the future.
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Sources Cited
(Shahan, 2013)
(Energy, 2014)
(RealGoods Solar Inc., 2014)
(MIT TEchnology Review, 2013) (MIT TEchnology Review, 2013)
(Vasquez, 2014)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GNBSWSB