Solar energy is a renewable and sustainable energy source that is important in reducing global GHG emissions and mitigating climate change. Over the years, it has come to make up an ever-growing part of our energy mix. So, we had to ask, How safe is solar energy really?

Overall, solar energy is considered to be safe. Holistically and throughout its life cycle, solar is safe and beneficial for human and animal health, the environment, and the energy grid. It is significantly safer than fossil fuels and other types of renewable energy.

Keep reading to find out how safe solar energy is overall, holistically, and in terms of its life cycle. Then, we’ll describe solar energy’s pros and cons, look at how effective it is, and determine how it can help mitigate climate change.

The Big Picture of the Safety of Solar Energy

Solar energy is the conversion of solar radiation into electrical energy either through the use of photovoltaic (PV) panels or solar radiation-concentrating mirrors. The energy produced is then used to generate electricity or can be stored in batteries or thermal storage for use at a later time. 

“Solar Energy: energy that uses the power of the sun to produce electricity”

Cambridge Dictionary

Harnessing the power of the sun falls into two main categories:

1. Photovoltaic (PV) solar cells: photovoltaic cells in solar panels absorb energy from sunlight, creating an electrical charge. This charge moves in response to an internal electric field in the cell, causing electricity to flow. 

2. Concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP): mirrors reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect and convert solar energy into heat. This is utilized in very large power plants.

Both systems take the energy from the sun and convert it to electricity, just by slightly different mechanisms. PV solar is the main mechanism used today to harness solar energy.

“Safety: the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury”

Oxford Dictionary

Here’s How Safe Solar Energy Is Holistically and Across Its Life-Cycles

One way to combat the current global climate crisis threatening Earth’s environmental, economic, and social health is to transition away from traditional fossil fuels and toward renewable energy sources, such as solar energy. 

Just as with any energy source, it is important to understand how safe solar energy is before we implement it on a commercial scale. This involves analyzing all aspects of solar energy. 

For this reason, we have split our analysis into the following categories:

• Overall safety
• Holistic safety
• Life-cycle safety
• Comparative safety

How Safe Is Solar Energy Overall

Overall, solar energy is a safe form of energy regarding human and animal health, the environment, the energy grid, and throughout all stages of its life cycle. Solar energy has a low carbon footprint and can be a beneficial addition to our power grid that can promote decentralization and reduce air pollution.

How Safe Is Solar Energy at a Holistic Level

PV solar installed capacity is to exceed natural gas by 2026 and coal by 2027, becoming the largest in the world. Because solar is predicted to become a dominant electricity source, it is important to understand how safe it is at a holistic level. 

“Holistic: relating to the whole of something or to the total system instead of just to its parts”

Cambridge Dictionary

To understand how safe solar energy is holistically, we must take into account how it affects us, the environment, and our technology.

How Safe Is Solar Energy When It Comes to Human and Animal Health

Overall, solar energy is considered safe for human and animal health. 

A main component of solar energy is electromagnetic radiation (EM) which emanates from solar panels. Solar panels and energy transmission lines emit very weak EM fields at levels comparable to emissions from a cell phone. The World Health Organization has extensively studied exposure to low-level EM fields and found no evidence that EM is detrimental to human health. 

Decades of research have also established there is no link between solar energy and cancer. From small rooftop solar arrays to utility-scale solar farms, researchers have found no evidence that solar energy causes cancer, at any level of production. Solar energy can decrease health risks (e.g., lung cancer) because it offsets emissions from fossil fuel usage, which directly contributes to air pollution. 

Residential solar panels pose little to no threat to wildlife, and utility-scale solar facilities can be constructed in such a way to minimally impact their surroundings. Raised platforms can allow animals to shelter underneath, bird diverters and wildlife fences can keep wildlife away, and creating wetlands and planting vegetation between rows of solar panels can increase wildlife habitat.

Ways to further increase the safety of solar facilities include performing environmental assessments before construction to determine the potential negative impacts of solar facilities and implementing regular monitoring and maintenance protocols. 

Overall, solar energy is safe for human and animal health and can be made safer with proper siting, monitoring, and maintenance of solar facilities. 

How Safe Is Solar Energy When It Comes to the Environment

Solar energy emits minimal greenhouse gas emissions and has a minimal effect on the environment, provided that proper siting of facilities and disposal of solar panels occurs.

Solar energy produces a fraction of the pollution and toxic chemicals that fossil fuels produce, helping to protect air quality. Rather than combusting toxic materials, solar energy facilities harness the energy of the sun to generate electricity. In terms of emissions, solar energy generates between 38 and 48 grams of CO₂ equivalent per kWh of electricity produced and zero sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxide emissions. 

PV solar arrays constructed on top of residential or commercial buildings have a minimal land use impact, but utility-scale solar projects can have a large land use carbon footprint. A utility-scale PV solar plant can require 5-10 acres per megawatt of generating capacity, and concentrating solar plants typically require 10-15 acres. Clearing this land for construction can disturb natural habitats and degrade the land if proper measures are not followed.

Solar panels themselves can be classified as hazardous waste depending on the type of metals present in the semiconductor and solder. For example, lead, arsenic, and cadmium are considered detrimental to human health and the environment, at high levels, and are therefore classified as hazardous. If solar panels containing toxic metals are dumped into landfills, the metals may leach out into the environment. 

Recycling end-of-life solar panels can help ensure any toxic chemicals do not leach out into the environment. Many of the components of solar panels can be recycled, including glass, aluminum, copper wire, and the plastic junction box. Specialty metals and silicon cells can also be separated and purified via chemical and electrical techniques.

How Safe Is Solar Energy When It Comes to the Energy Grid and Infrastructure

Solar energy is not only safe, but it is also a beneficial addition to our energy grid and supporting infrastructure. Solar energy promotes the decentralization of our energy supply, which increases power grid efficiency by reducing peak time usage and decreasing the likelihood of power outages. 

Renewable energy, including solar energy, draws energy from various geographic locations, so the grid can distribute power from multiple plants.

Although the addition of large amounts of renewable energy to the grid at one time may seem like it would have a destabilizing effect, renewable energy becomes more predictable as it is added to the grid. This is thanks to the law of large numbers. 

“Law of large numbers: as the number of identically distributed, randomly generated variables increases, their sample mean (average) approaches their theoretical mean.”

Britannica

In terms of renewable energy, the output of every solar panel that is connected to the power grid Is less volatile and more stable than the output of one individual generator. This decentralization in turn reduces peak time usage and decreases the likelihood of power outages. It also increases the efficiency of power production and power distribution.

How Safe Is Solar Energy Across Its Life-Cycle

To understand how safe solar energy is, we must look at its life cycle and how safe each stage is. This includes assessing the safety of solar energy’s building, operating and maintaining, and building back stages.

How Safe Is Solar Energy in the Building Stage

The building stage of solar energy involves constructing solar facilities and electricity delivery mechanisms. 

This includes building the many components found in solar facilities including mirrors, heat-exchange fluid, receivers, engines, turbines, and generators as well as the transmission lines, transformers, and substations required for delivering electricity to consumers.

Safe work practices and proper training of solar professionals can mitigate any risks associated with constructing solar facilities. 

How Safe Is Solar Energy in the Operating and Maintaining Stage

The operating and maintaining stage of solar energy includes the process by which solar facilities capture the sun’s rays and convert them into electricity. 

Solar energy is considered safe to operate and maintain because it does not harm human health or the environment when producing energy. 

Solar panels are typically installed by professional solar panel installers and come equipped with an automatic shut-off system in the event of physical or mechanical damage. This leads to minimal risks associated with the operation and maintenance of solar energy.

How Safe Is Solar Energy in the Building Back Stage

The building back stage of solar energy involves:

1. Shutting down the solar panels and other mechanical equipment
2. Removing the solar panels, mirrors, racks, foundations, and enclosures from the site
3. Restoring the land or roof to its original state 

This final stage is considered to be safe overall, with the most common workplace hazards (lifting, trips and falls, electricity, and ladders) able to be mitigated by safe work practices. 

How Safe Is Solar Energy In Comparison to Other Types of Energy

Solar energy is one of the, if not the, safest forms of energy (fossil fuels and renewable energy included). Solar energy has a death rate of 0.02 deaths per terawatt-hour of electricity produced. This includes deaths resulting from accidents and air pollution.

To put it into perspective, a town powered entirely by solar energy with a population of 150,000 that uses one terawatt-hour of electricity per year would experience only 1 death from solar energy every 50 years. If that same town was powered entirely by coal, roughly 1,250 people would die prematurely in the same amount of time, mostly from air pollution – that’s about 25 people every year.

In short, solar energy is one of our safest forms of energy because it boasts one of the, if not the, lowest death rates per unit of electricity generation from accidents and air pollution.

What Are the 6 Pros and 4 Cons of Solar Energy

Solar energy is a renewable and sustainable energy source, has a low carbon footprint, protects air quality, is efficient, generates few waste products, has low maintenance costs, and promotes energy independence and security.

However, solar energy is also an intermittent energy source, faces high upfront and maintenance costs, and has specific land requirements.

These Are the 6 Pros of Solar Energy

Solar energy has various pros that make it effective at reducing carbon emissions.

These Are the 4 Cons of Solar Energy

Understanding the drawbacks of solar energy is important to mitigate climate change effectively. 

How Effective and Efficient Is Solar Energy

In terms of effectiveness, solar energy has a low carbon footprint, protects air quality, and promotes energy security and independence.

In terms of efficiency, solar energy is a renewable and sustainable energy source, increases the efficiency of the power grid, and generates few waste products. Solar panels also efficiently convert sunlight into energy.

Solar energy is effective because:

• Solar has the fifth-lowest carbon footprint out of all energy types. Concentrating solar energy emits 38, PV roof solar energy emits 41, and PV utility solar energy emits 48 grams of CO₂ equivalent per kWh of electricity produced, on a life-cycle basis.
• Solar produces a fraction of the pollution and toxic chemicals that fossil fuels produce, helping to protect air quality.
• Solar can help us transition away from fossil fuels and towards an energy-independent future.

Solar energy is efficient because:

• Solar energy is a renewable and sustainable resource that can reduce emissions for generations to come.
• Solar energy boasts a high rate of efficiency per solar panel (15-20%) and is an efficient use of farmland.
• Solar energy promotes the decentralization of our energy supply which increases power grid efficiency by reducing peak time usage and decreasing the likelihood of power outages. 
• Solar energy generates few waste products upon operation, and solar panels can be recycled.

How Can Solar Energy Help Mitigate Climate Change

Climate change is a severe, long-term consequence of fossil fuel combustion. If left untreated, atmospheric CO₂ can remain there for tens of thousands of years and exacerbate the negative effects of climate change. Solar energy emits less CO₂ upon operation than fossil fuels and can therefore reduce our total emissions. 

How is Climate Change Defined

Climate change is arguably the most severe, long-term global impact of CO₂. Every year, we emit approximately 37 billion tons of CO₂. The carbon found in fossil fuels reacts with oxygen in the air to produce CO₂. 

“Climate change: changes in the earth’s weather, including changes in temperature, wind patterns, and rainfall, especially the increase in the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere that is caused by the increase of particular gasses, especially carbon dioxide.”

Oxford Dictionary

When carbon enters the atmosphere, it absorbs sunlight and solar radiation, trapping the heat and acting as an insulator for the planet.

Since the Industrial Revolution, Earth’s temperature has risen a little more than 1 degree Celsius (°C), or 2 degrees Fahrenheit (°F). Between 1880-1980 the global temperature rose by 0.07°C every 10 years. This rate has more than doubled since 1981, with a current global annual temperature rise of 0.18°C, or 0.32°F, for every 10 years. 

How Does Solar Energy Specifically Help Mitigate Climate Change

The global average concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere today registers at over 400 parts per million, the highest ever recorded. Solar energy can help lower this concentration because it can replace some of the burning of fossil fuels (e.g., coal, oil, natural gas) with a cleaner form of renewable energy.

Solar emits roughly 0.05%-0.08% of the amount of CO₂ (grams of CO₂ equivalent per kWh) as fossil fuels. Solar also has a life-cycle global warming emission between 0.08 and 0.2 pounds of CO₂ equivalent per kilowatt-hour (kWh), whilst coal power plants have an estimated emission between 1.4-3.6 pounds of CO₂ equivalent per kWh. 

Increasing solar energy usage can reduce CO₂ emissions, and the more we reduce CO₂ emissions, the more we combat the negative effects associated with climate change including temperature rise, sea-level rise, ice melting, and ocean acidification. When these rates are slowed, the earth’s biodiversity does not have to struggle to adapt to temperature and pH changes. People will not be displaced due to the flooding of coastal areas. And icebergs will continue to provide climate regulation. 

Final Thoughts

At a holistic level, solar energy is considered to be a safe form of energy in terms of human and animal health, the environment, and the energy grid and supporting infrastructure. It has a low carbon footprint and can be a beneficial addition to our power grid that can promote decentralization and reduce air pollution.

Solar is also considered to be safe during its entire life cycle (building, operating and maintaining, and building back stages). Common hazards, including those associated with construction and electricity, can be mitigated by proper training and safe work practices.

Forging a sustainable planet for future generations will require us to increase renewable energy usage, and solar energy is a great place to start. 

Stay impactful,

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