ALESSANDRA MARTORANA

SAVE MONEY WITH SOLAR PANELS

Solar panels are a cheaper alternative to normal electricity provided by the government. They help shops open longer and cost less to run. In the long term, they can make a bigger profit for entrepreneurs and business owners.

WHAT ARE SOLAR PANELS?

Solar panels are used to provide electricity and energy to homes and businesses. They are made of big panels of material like glass, and are put on the top of people’s homes. These big panels absorb the energy of the sun, which is transformed into electricity in the home. It is slightly different to normal electricity, because the energy comes from the sun, not from oil and gas under the ground.

SOLAR PANELS CAN BE CHEAPER THAN NORMAL ELECTRICITY

Solar panels can be much, much less expensive than normal electricity. In Nigeria and Kenya, some businesses cannot access electricity because it is too expensive to use. But solar power allows them to light up their homes or shops, because it is cheaper. Solar power can be found everywhere and can be installed wherever there is sunlight. This means that even if a business cannot afford electricity, they can get it from the sun. There are lots of schemes that mean you can pay a small amount for the solar panels up front, and then pay the rest in installments. This means you do not have to pay it all at once, so it is more affordable.

SOLAR PANELS MEANS A BIGGER PROFIT

Solar panels can help small business owners and entrepreneurs. Their shops can stay open longer and sell more products, because they can use solar power to light their shops in the evening. They can also produce goods for the next morning by working at night, because it is not too dark to work. This makes their business more efficient. Solar panels can also power useful machines to make jobs quicker. As they are often cheaper than the electricity from the government, they also pay less to run their business. This means they make a bigger profit in the long term.

Therefore, using solar power can be wonderful for the community. Solar panels can be a cheaper alternative that means businesses can stay open longer and make greater profits. Already, business owners are using solar panels to improve their shops and homes. Hopefully, in the future, even more people can access solar panels.

WHY RENEWABLE ENERGY IS GOOD

There is a big problem on the planet: global warming. The earth as a whole is getting hotter and hotter because of humans. Every time we turn on light bulbs, we use an energy called fossil fuels to power the process. Fossil fuels produce a gas called carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere and makes the earth become warmer than normal. This is bad because it means there are more droughts and higher temperatures. It changes normal weather patterns and makes the globe hotter.

WHY FOSSIL FUELS ARE DAMAGING

Fossil fuels can be very damaging to the environment in the long term. The carbon dioxide produced from using fossil fuels causes many problems:

• It pollutes the air, making it dirtier to breathe in, affecting people’s health
• It makes the globe hotter by storing heat in the atmosphere. This means that water used for animals and people dries up, making farming more difficult
• It causes drought as it makes the earth warmer. There is less time to grow crops and working on the farm is harder in the hot weather

SOLAR POWER

But luckily, there is a way to combat this. Renewable energy is a different source of electricity. It does not produce carbon dioxide, so does not trap heat in the atmosphere. This energy can be used just like fossil fuels in factories, cars, and homes, but does not make the globe hotter. One renewable energy is called ‘solar power’, which is energy from the sun. Africa is called the ‘sun continent’ because it gets the most sun in the entire world. Enormous panels, like glass, are used to absorb the sunlight. The energy from the sunlight is transformed to make electricity and power homes and businesses.

RENEWABLE ENERGY: AFRICA’S FUTURE

Whereas fossil fuels make the globe hotter and makes farming more difficult in the long term, solar power does not do this. Solar power does not produce carbon dioxide like fossil fuels. Renewable energies are an infinite resource – an energy that lasts forever and does not run out. Fossil fuels are finite resources, so will one day run out and cannot be replaced. Fossil fuels work in the short term, but in the long term, renewable energies like solar panels are essential to power the globe. They will also not damage the planet like fossil fuels in the future, because they do not create carbon dioxide.

This is why renewable energies such as solar power are the future for Africa and the world. Already, across the whole of the ‘sun continent’, countries are using the power of the sun to bring energy to their homes and businesses. This is already improving the outlook for the whole planet, as less fossil fuels are being used.

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