Is Solar Power The Best Alternative Energy?

Discussion

Is solar power the best alternative energy?

Most of the organizations find it risky to depend on one particular source of power. Industries need to depend on such sources of energy, which help them to reduce operational cost. Organizations find it difficult to retain its same power source year after year unless it creates its own power source. Often it is found that manufacturing plants need to endure huge cost due to electricity generation, which adds up to the cost of production and finally, price of products increases. Thus, such manufacturing plants need to establish such power source that delivers the most efficiency in terms of operation. Solar power is widely considered as the best alternative source of energy, which will be critically analyzed in this essay and evaluated against other sources of energy.

According to Budischak et al (2013), if solar energy is compared with wind energy, then it can be said that solar energy is more convenient source of energy. Hirth (2013) pointed out that solar energy requires less amount of space than wind energy and as most of the manufacturing sectors are closed to each other, hence the availability of space for wind energy conservation is not suitable in the UK. If Oil and Gas Industry is considered, then in case of wind energy, it is sure enough that the refinery sectors require huge open space, which will add up to the cost of operation for the organizations. On the other hand, if solar energy is considered, then it can be said that solar panels does not take huge amount of space and hence it is feasible for any type of industry. On the other hand, Li, Hui and Lai (2013) pointed out that wind turbines or windmills are beneficial for the organization in only one particular sense, which is energy storage for the whole day. Solar panels can conserve or store energy only during the daytime. Huber, Dimkova and Hamacher (2014) pointed out that wind turbines that are responsible for converting wind energy from windmills into electrical energy are associated with huge amount of sound, which indicates environmental degradation. On the other hand, Ren, Suganthan and Srikanth (2015) pointed out that solar panels are independent energy converters, which does not require additional machine for energy conversion, and therefore, there is no noise pollution. In this competitive era of sustainable environment, UK has adopted the green environment, which indicates that environmental pollution will be least entertained. Therefore, it can be said that solar power is more suitable alternative source of energy than wind power. Singh (2013) pointed out that wind turbines require more amount of periodic maintenance than solar panels. This is because most of the windmills are located at a minimum of 1.5km distance from the manufacturing plant and therefore, these machines are not under vicinity from the management. Quite often, such machines start malfunctioning, and maintenance of which adds up to the cost of operation Lovegrove and Stein (2012).

Conclusion

According to Chang et al. (2013), hydropower is more suitable for those manufacturing plants, which have more than one operation unit, and covers huge area of land. Hydropower is installed in large-scale dams and therefore, this kind of energy source is not suitable for homeowners. On the other hand, Mileva et al. (2013) pointed out that solar power can be easily installed in any small business and homeowners as both space and cost related resources are less as compared to hydropower. As opined by Bhandari et al. (2014), large dams are extremely expensive, which can be only supported by large organizations and solar power can be installed at any location at convenient cost and even as per the requirement of energy, solar cells can be increased. An organization, which depends on hydropower, has to buy a huge amount of land and for that the whole habitat has to be eradicated, which is against environmental conservation as balance between the habitats will be hampered (Delucchi and Jacobson 2013). On the other hand, solar power does not does not require eradication of livelihood and species and therefore least environmental degradation is perceived. On the other hand, Malagueta et al. (2014) pointed out that unfair water supply from dams destroys the communities and countries. Solar power has its own area of restriction and jurisdiction and is under control by the owner. Moreover, solar power does not hamper the habitat and culture of a society, which indicates that it is the most suitable alternate source of energy for organizations. From the analysis, it can be said that solar power has the ability to conserve environment, reduce expenditure and reduced maintenance cost, which are all favorable for an organization.

According to Peterseim et al. (2014), biomass fuel is used in electricity production, but at the same time, the availability of biomass fuel is not found in many locations. This is because with the involvement of technology, the natural habitat has been destroyed a lot in the UK. Biomass is derived from biological degradation and application of microbes, but the UK government spontaneously eradicates the wastes from urban locations. As a result, most of the biomass is generated in rural areas where from generation of electricity is not feasible as it will require huge cabling. On the other hand, Karellas and Braimakis (2016) pointed out the fact that solar power is restored within one’s own location and therefore, it does not harm any habitat. User can alter the panels and change the configuration and as per the requirements if solar power is utilized. Furthermore, Xingang et al. (2012) pointed out that burning of biomass emits carbon dioxide, which increases the amount of carbon content in the environment. On the other hand, Sanchez et al. (2015) pointed out that solar panel has the efficiency rate of 19% in UK. This is because the entire process does not initiate any burning carbon emission. Prasartkaew and Kumar (2013) pointed out in UK, the biomass efficiency is almost 1%, which means solar energy is the most suitable source of energy for manufacturing organizations the UK. From the analysis, it is sure that solar energy does not pollute the environment in terms of carbon emission and is the most efficient form of energy.

Organizations are becoming too much competitive in the UK and the selection of alternative source of energy has been always under question. At present, there are four most convenient sources of energy, which are solar, wind, water and biomass. Solar energy is derived from solar cells or solar panels, which are exposed in the direct sunlight. Direct rays of sun inject heat in the solar panel and finally, heat energy is converted into electrical energy through photovoltaic cells. Wind power is generated from windmills and is stored in wind turbines, which are transferred to the manufacturing plant. Hydropower is generated from dams and the energy originated from flow of water is converted into electrical energy. Biomass energy is produced by decomposition of fossil fuel and organic materials, which is associated with emission of carbon. These are the four most accessible and usable form of power sources for organizations, which will be further explained in this discussion later.

Conclusion

While concluding, it must be said that solar power is the most convenient and best alternative source of energy in the UK. Wind power requires lot of free space and huge maintenance, which is associated with noise pollution. This adds up to the cost of production. Hydropower source of energy is tremendously expensive and therefore is feasible for only large-scale organizations and finally biomass energy emits excessive carbon at the time of burning. The UK government is strict towards environmental conservation and therefore, it has been found that solar energy is the best alternative source of energy as it is less expensive, requires very less maintenance, does not pollute the environment and can be easily configured but the owner as per requirement. It is also recommended that organizations need to place a separate energy-manufacturing zone if they consider relying only on solar power.

Reference List

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