When it comes to powering up your home or business, there are a lot of alternative energy source options to choose from. Two of the best to look at are the most environmentally friendly choices, Solar and Wind. Which is the best option for your business, and which can end up being cheaper in the long run? Here are some pros and cons of each source to better help you decide which is best for you!
Solar Power
Solar energy uses the sunlight with the combination of solar panels to generate power to your home or business. Installing panels on the roof or in the yard next to the building can begin to generate solar energy within minutes. These panels soak in the sunlight in the form of photons. When they hit a solar cell, it dislodges the electrons. Inside of the solar cells, there are positive and negative silicon layers. Having them both together creates the electric circuit that the electrons travel through, generating electricity.
Multiple solar cells make up a full solar panel, the more panels, the more energy produced. Solar panel systems need an inverter to take electricity and form it into power. The systems that you install can produce power all through the night, even without sunlight beaming down on them.
Wind
Wind energy uses natural wind traveling through the sky to rotate wind turbine blades around a rotor and creates electricity. Wind turbines are moved when the wind blows across the blade, and the air pressure decreases on the other side of the blade. When the blades are rotating, it turns the internal shaft, that is connected to a gearbox, which in turn increases the speed of the rotation. The gearbox inside the turbine powers a generator, that creates the electricity.
How Reliable are the Natural Elements?
Using the natural elements, they can be tricky to rely on. For solar power, the sun won’t always be shining. For times like these, it’s recommended that you have solar panel systems installed that are equipped with light trapping surfaces, to capture infrared, ultraviolet, and visible light. This way, on cloudy, overcast, or rainy days, your system can still produce electricity.
With wind energy, it won’t always be windy. Turbine installers recommend having your site be set up with an average wind speed of 12 miles per hour. Not only do you need a certain number of MPH, but you’ll also need to factor in the generalized local terrain influencers on wind flow in your area.
Are Wind or Solar Energy Sources Worth It?
Solar panel systems, with the most efficient panels, can make 22-23% of the energy from the sunlight to power. Wind turbines convert up to half of the wind energy hitting them into electricity. One major flaw in wind energy is that the wind will never blow at the same speed all day, every day. Predicting your energy output can be very difficult.
Overall, without having exact predictions of sunlight or wind, solar power has been found to produce five times as much energy as wind turbines. When it comes to powering your home or business, solar might be a better fit than wind. In the end, you get to decide which is better for you, and which will be a better price. When having your alternate energy source installed, contact professionals before you make any final decisions.
Give Live Smart Construction a call and ask about the advantages of solar power!