Happy solar jobs On Pollution Prevention Week! The EPA has dedicated this week to increasing efforts to reduce and eliminate sources of pollution. You know to prevent damage to the environment. That’s as well as maintain the planet’s resources and move towards sustainability. So one technology that has advanced these efforts greatly across the United States and the world is solar power. Think about all the new solar jobs out there today!
Solar Energy Must Be Consumed More
In the United States, .005 percent of all energy consumed comes from solar. This may seem like an insignificant number, but it’s actually quite substantial. In addition, between 2014 and 2015 alone, there was a 33 percent increase in solar power generation and solar jobs across the globe! Currently, the total photovoltaic (PV) power generation capacity around the world stands at 231 gigawatts.
As I have written before:
Solar PV systems do not emit carbon dioxide into the air during operation. Thus, solar PV shuts down dirty power plants for support of climate change. So you ask What about the energy used to make PV panels? If fossil fuels are used to make PV panels, those fuels will emit carbon dioxide. Studies have shown that it takes 2 to 2.5 years of operation for a crystalline silicon PV panel’s output to match the energy used to make the panel. Therefore, with an estimated lifetime of 30 years, that means more than 90% of the energy produced by a PV panel is entirely free of pollution. If solar panels are manufactured using solar electricity, in a kind of PV “breeder” factory powered by PV, then the PV panels coming out of that factory are 100% carbon-free.
As the solar industry and solar jobs grow is a great thing. Then again for solar jobs, the demand for people working in the industry is growing too. The number of people with solar jobs is expected to grow by 24% by 2021. Looking to get into the industry? California might be a good place to start as they have a 34% market share in solar as of 2016.
Want to learn more about the future of solar power? Check out the infographic below created by New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Electrical Engineering program.
