Solar Energy and the Environment

Solar energy is one of the cheapest forms of renewable energy available. But as well as being economically attractive, generating solar electricity and hot water offers up a range of environmental benefits.

Climate change is a very real threat, the effects of which are already visible.

Did you know?

• The sea levels are 10cm higher now than they were in 1990.
• Global temperatures have increased by 0.7 degrees Celsius in the last century.

• At the current rate of temperature increase, the Arctic could see its first ice free summer as early as 2040.
• Rainforests are disappearing at an equivalent rate of one and a half football pitches every single second.
• A human emits around 4 tonnes of Co2 per year. That soon adds up when you consider the fact that the population of the Earth reached 6 billion by 2000.
• The 17 hottest years on record have all taken place within the last 20 years.
• As a result of changing eco-systems, acid levels increasing in the ocean and habitats being completely destroyed, one million species are facing the possibility of extinction.

But there is good news too. The Earth receives more energy from the sun in one hour than the entire planet uses in a whole year. Harnessing more of that energy will lower your carbon footprint (and your utility bills) and help to lower Co2 emissions.