The Sun. It has been at Earth’s existence since the beginning of the planet itself. The Sun provides light, heat, deadly rays of light that would destroy Earth if the ozone layer were not there, and several other things. But there is one thing that we as Humans have recognized but not put to its full potential; Solar Energy. Solar energy is essentially the energy naturally radiating from the Sun. There are ways of harvesting this energy and using it as a power source, but these methods are not very efficient and need to be revised; hence the reason they are commonly used in toys and other small electronics. Many solar panels today only target one set of rays in the large spectrum of light emitted by the sun. Alongside that, not much funding is given to research in solar energy; therefore not much progression can be made in developing these panels. One more benefit to solar power is self-sustained living in terms of energy. Imagine living on your own power supplied to you by solar panels on top of your roof. Additionally, solar energy is hands down a much more environmentally friendly source of energy than fossil fuels, oil, and anything else that involves burning harmful materials into the atmosphere.

First off, solar power is not as efficient as it needs to be and therefore, not a very good power source for the time being. Most solar panels today only use the visible spectrum of light; violet, blue, green, etc. Solar panels need to be developed to use the full spectrum emitted by the Sun which includes infrared and ultraviolent rays. While there are some solar cells being developed to use these rays, they are still in early development, but do stand to be the most efficient means of solar power. When solar panels are further developed, there will be many uses for them.

Solar power can constantly provide power to anything it is connected. Imagine not having to rely on somewhere else for your power source to your house. This would save unbelievable amounts of money and simultaneously help the environment. Now, the only downside solar panels do cost quite a bit, but that relates back to making solar power more accessible and efficient. When the time comes that solar power is more accessible to the general public, the environment will be in better shape, people will have a better standard of living, and there will be a very low chance of power outage.

Solar power affects the environment negatively much less than burning oil and fossil fuels does. When oil is burned, it releases harmful substances into the air along with greenhouse gasses. Greenhouse gasses do not escape outside the Earth’s atmosphere and simply stay on the planet and slowly cook us all to death, which is why some days seem so hot. Now, the Earth does go through the natural heating up and cooling down stages, but the heat is much higher than it should be. Solar panels do not emit anything into the Earth’s atmosphere, and therefore do not contribute to global warming. Also, solar panels are much easier to obtain considering the fossil fuel resource is non-renewable and is very close to being used up. Solar power is simply a better way to preserve the environment and power our machines.

As we can see daily, the sun has great power that needs to be used. That power is solar energy. Solar panels made today absorb that power and transfer into an electrical current to power anything electronic. If this power source were used instead of oil, the environment would not be harmed and humans would have a renewable resource at hand.