There are many types of renewable energy sources in the world. We can run the world forever off of these energy sources, until something catastrophic happens to the planet. There can be a plethora of similarities and differences between the types of energy. So I am going to break down solar energy and wind energy.
The most obvious and simple similarity of these two is that they create power, and lots of it. A single solar panel can create a few kilowatts (kW) to over 100. While a single wind turbine can create anywhere from 50 kW up to 8000 kW in one day. To put that into perspective that could power the average US home for about 11 months. The wind turbine may create much more power it will come at a dramatic price increase. So the price per watt you will get from either unit will be about the same. With both of these energy sources specializing in harnessing the energy of nature elements they will both require a certain set of conditions to make them work optimally. Wind turbines require a good consistent breeze of …show more content…
Solar panels are more for the small things like powering a home or an office building. But why not combine a multitude of these panels and get a solar farm? Well, that's exactly what's been done. The biggest solar farm can produce about 600 MW. That may be a lot but it's no competition for the biggest wind farm at 8,000 MW a day. This may seem like a good thing about wind power but it can have its drawbacks, like the amount of labor to maintain all these turbines. That's another difference to talk about. Solar panels may create way less power but they do it at the expense of rarely having to do maintenance on them, besides the occasional wash and scrub. On the flipside the turbines can be extremely big and heavy. Workers have to get inside, climb all the way up and shut it down for a routine checkup. This may take weeks to fix a problem with turbines but solar panels can be fixed in a few hours if
The most obvious and simple similarity of these two is that they create power, and lots of it. A single solar panel can create a few kilowatts (kW) to over 100. While a single wind turbine can create anywhere from 50 kW up to 8000 kW in one day. To put that into perspective that could power the average US home for about 11 months. The wind turbine may create much more power it will come at a dramatic price increase. So the price per watt you will get from either unit will be about the same. With both of these energy sources specializing in harnessing the energy of nature elements they will both require a certain set of conditions to make them work optimally. Wind turbines require a good consistent breeze of …show more content…
Solar panels are more for the small things like powering a home or an office building. But why not combine a multitude of these panels and get a solar farm? Well, that's exactly what's been done. The biggest solar farm can produce about 600 MW. That may be a lot but it's no competition for the biggest wind farm at 8,000 MW a day. This may seem like a good thing about wind power but it can have its drawbacks, like the amount of labor to maintain all these turbines. That's another difference to talk about. Solar panels may create way less power but they do it at the expense of rarely having to do maintenance on them, besides the occasional wash and scrub. On the flipside the turbines can be extremely big and heavy. Workers have to get inside, climb all the way up and shut it down for a routine checkup. This may take weeks to fix a problem with turbines but solar panels can be fixed in a few hours if