Are there hidden environmental and social costs for solar energy?
Solar energy is the green energy. Solar energy is the inexhaustible source of energy. It is the cleanest and freely available to all. With the help of solar panel we can store and utilize the solar energy.
Solar energy can be captured in several ways and we have hardly begun to tap its potential. One of the hidden environmental costs also applies to other forms of energy capture and generation – the resources required to build the equipment. The materials (metals etc) need to be mined, transported and subjected to the manufacturing process and there will be environmental costs and resource depletion consequences. This is one of the reasons we need to reduce our energy demands as well as switch to sustainable sources. Solar energy also has the disadvantage of not being entirely reliable because of cloudy days. This means that there is a need for backup energy generation capacity or energy storage. Again providing the backup or storage will have environmental consequences. Turning to social costs – switching from one form of energy to another may require social change. People may loose their jobs in fossil fuelled energy generation and have to re-train in the new technology. Scrapping old
