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Benefits Cost Design Reliability Modular Environmental Less Oil Reliance
PV solar power is considered by all experts to be environmentally friendly: probably the least malignant of all our energy sources.
This being the case, customers and potential customers are prepared to sacrifice some end-user cost for a healthier environment.
And these systems have almost no impact on the environment.
Because PV systems burn no fuel and have no moving parts, they are clean and silent, producing no atmospheric emissions or greenhouse gases that have detrimental effects on the planet. Compared with electricity generated from fossil fuels, each kilowatt of PV-produced electricity offsets up to 830 pounds of oxides of nitrogen, 1,500 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and 217,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, every year, according to a report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Herig 2000).
These are serious numbers, and the potential of PV-generated energy to make such great strides in avoiding pollution will only continue to climb as the PV industry grows and expands.
Isle Royale National Park is on an island in Lake Superior, Michigan—47 miles from the nearest electric utility. The park has purchased and installed five small solar electric systems to generate its electric power. The PV systems have helped to eliminate some safety and human-comfort concerns associated with the diesel-powered generators used earlier.
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