How can solar panels help protect the environment

Clearing land for construction and the placement of the power plant may have long-term effects on the habitats of native plants and animals. Some solar power plants may require water for cleaning solar collectors and concentrators or for cooling turbine generators. Using large volumes of ground water or surface water for cleaning collectors in some arid locations may affect the ecosystems that depend on these water resources. In addition, the beam of concentrated sunlight a solar power tower creates can kill birds and insects that fly into the beam.

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Roger Kuznia Solar Expert. About Roger Kuznia. Please see our Privacy Statement and Terms of Use. Looking for solar for your business? We're the 1 commercial solar company in the U. Learn more. People love that using photovoltaic PV solar power can save money on energy bills, but very often they're just as interested in how solar panels can help the earth.

Solar is a form of renewable energy, which means it can't run out. As long as there's sunlight, there will be solar power. There are several other types of renewable energy , like wind, bioenergy, geothermal, and hydroelectric. And there are several varieties of solar power. The most common type is PV solar, which uses solar cells to convert sunlight to energy.

PV is the country's fastest-growing type of energy, renewable or otherwise. Renewable types of energy are often called "alternative" or "clean" energy because they're an alternative to traditional polluting fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas.

Renewable forms of energy aren't percent clean though. For instance, there are environmental impacts in the production of wind turbines or solar panels.