solar energy coal
What are the disadvantages of using solar energy instead of oil and coal?
Currently very expensive and you can’t control the output – the weather does. So if you want it to provide reliable power then you need lots of energy storage.
In some areas (eg warm ones), solar makes sense because most energy is used during Sunny days for air conditioning etc. In countries like the UK it’s a little less sensible because peak energy demand is during the cold, dark winters for heating and lighting.
Jon isn’t right about them using more energy than they produce, studies show that panels produce a lot more energy than they use to make:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V50-439MD43-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=db18b025a880f5550c31450b0358233c
They also require quite a lot of area, but this isn’t necessarily a problem. Desert and roof space isn’t being used for much anyway.
It’ll probably be another decade or so before solar is a sensible choice for lots of power.
Solar Energy Cheaper than Coal
