Disadvantages of Solar Energy

Solar energy bring us a lot of benefit but there are also some disadvantages that we need to recognize. If we are aware all the aspects, the decision for our home energy system is more accurate.

The main disadvantage of solar energy is that it's dilute. This means you have to have a lot of solar collectors installed around your house. The energy itself is free, but the solar collectors are relatively expensive and some require regular maintenance in order to work properly and efficiently. If you decide to go solar you need to calculate the return on investment in order to know if the investment will be worth it.

Solar water heating technique

In order to heat water using solar energy, a collector is fastened to the roof of a building, or on a wall facing the sun. In some cases, the collector may be free-standing. The working fluid is either pumped (active system) or driven by natural convection (passive system) through it.

The collector could be made of a simple glass topped insulated box with a flat solar absorber made of sheet metal attached to copper pipes and painted black, or a set of metal tubes surrounded by an evacuated (near vacuum) glass cylinder. In some cases, before the solar energy is absorbed, a parabolic mirror is used to concentrate sunlight on the tube.

Solar energy

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation along with secondary solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass account for most of the available renewable energy on Earth. Only a minuscule fraction of the available solar energy is used.

Solar power provides electrical generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics. Once converted, its uses are limited only by human ingenuity. A partial list of solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, hot water, thermal energy for cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.