Solar is our armour against climate change
The temperature is soaring! Bangalore, famous for its pleasant weather throughout the year is experiencing unbearable heat waves this year. Global warming is staring us right on our face. Wondering why? Let’s explore.
Today, climate change is one of the most complex issues that we are facing. It is not a single dimensional issue, but involves everything under the sun — science, economics and politics. It has given rise to problems that will leave footprints for centuries to come. And how could it not? It has taken centuries of carbon-dioxide emission for nature to respond the way it is today.
Convenience has taken over healthy means of livelihood. We have reached a stage where we cannot look back. We cannot give up on our cars or mobile phones for this cause, which we feel cannot be reversed by individual modifications. Undoubtedly, global warming will continue to affect future generations even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today.
NGOs and world forums have spoken about the policies and other restrictions to bring in the necessary change. There have been innumerable awareness campaigns on climate change, but despite that, the emission of carbon-dioxide has been on a relentless rise. In 2013, the daily level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. Shocking, right?
However, kudos to the never-say-die nature of humans; societies have coped with these extreme climate changes throughout history. Rather than acting upon it, we have got accustomed to the changes and learnt to adapt to it.
Though it is seen as a problem to be tackled by creating policies by governments, the start should be made with each person, individually. It needs to be an effort from the heart to keep our future generations safe and healthy. Apart from avoiding or reducing emission of greenhouse gas, we could look at adapting to sustainable resources, in order to fight global warming.
And here comes the question of the hour- how do we know what we can do? Well, the answer is shining right on you. The mighty glory in the sky and the brightest star in the Universe- the Sun.
One of the best replacements for conventional energy and to cope up with climate changes is utilising the sun’s energy. For many decades, our activities have led to depletion of fossil fuels, forest covers and anything within our reach — which have resulted in this irreversible climate change. With glaciers melting, the duration of winters reducing and the current heat waves, the effects of climate change on nature are becoming more visible. So, if we could adopt solar energy to keep climate change at bay, then why not?
Even a 1 MW solar power plant can cut down carbon emissions by almost 1000 tonnes per annum, which is equivalent to planting about 5000 trees every year. Of course, trees have the added advantage of producing oxygen as well*.
There are various other reasons why solar energy is touted as the ultimate solution to deal with the crises of climate change. It is a sustainable form of energy, which is a one-time investment that provides long term benefits. It emits no harmful gases and therefore, poses no risk of health hazards like respiratory problems, cancers or cardiovascular problems. On the contrary, it helps reduce water and air pollution. Not just the present generation, but it will have ripple effects to prove beneficial for generations to come.
Many people question the sustainability of solar panels. Well, it would be surprising to learn that the panels help in reducing hazardous waste and resource mining. Apart from being a long-lasting resource of energy, solar also reduces our dependency on fuel and gas, thus proving to be cost effective. These definitely are quite a few compelling reasons for us to choose solar energy as an alternative. Solar explores the best of both worlds (cost efficiency and health), at the same time caring for our future generations.
Given the rate of consumption, if we continue to use natural resources, we will soon run out of fossil fuels, leading to other energy sources to gain more prominence. This implies, sooner or later, we will depend highly on renewable sources of energy. Many countries have taken steps towards delaying the climate change and adapted to alternate sources of energy. And what tops the list? Solar energy.
Needless to say, it is time for us to take this positive step towards global good and our future generations. Let’s say no to global warming and yes to Solar, as we hope for cooler days in the summer of 2019!
* https://claroenergy.in/solar-energy-fighting-climate-change/
