Green Chemistry is essentially chemistry that reduces or eliminates hazardous substances in its processes and products. It is more than cleaning up pollution or treating hazardous waste, it’s keeping the hazardous chemicals out of the environment and stopping pollution at its source. It is important because if we are to reverse climate change, we can’t just clean up pollution, we have to stop the pollution. There are many ways Green Chemistry is beneficial for our health and environment and many things that can contribute but the one that I would like to talk about is using solar energy as a primary source of Electricity.
Solar Electricity has a long list of benefits including being renewable, unlike fossil fuels or nuclear energy, as long as there is a sun there is Solar energy. It is good for the environment. The amount of emissions generated in the manufacturing and transportation of solar systems is negligible to the amount of emissions produced by other energy sources. Solar energy is available anywhere the sun shines. Solar systems have the capability of storing energy for use when the sun isn’t shining. According to Live Science, “[…] a solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms, generating a flow of electricity. Solar panels actually comprise many, smaller units called photovoltaic cells. (Photovoltaic means they convert sunlight into electricity).” (https://www.livescience.com/41995-how-do-solar-panels-work.html)
There are also a few drawbacks. It is expensive to store energy. Right now the technologies that exist to store energy can be quite costly, which brings me to the next drawback: Intermittent. With sunlight being limited at certain times (weather, early morning, and night) it can be hard to predict if your system will be able to create and store enough energy to meet your needs. (https://energyinformative.org/solar-energy-pros-and-cons/#expensive)
Despite it being expensive to install one of these systems in your home a lot of reviews will tell you people are seeing amazing results from an economical stand point. They begin saving on their electric bills almost immediately, however most of them are not able to disconnect from conventional energy sources completely, since they can’t always get adequate sunlight. Even though this is this case, Sciencing.com says, “[…] manufacturing solar energy is less expensive than burning fossil fuels, which is the traditional method of generating electricity. Thus, if businesses or households decide to use solar energy to power electricity in their homes or buildings, their electric bills can be substantially less than if they use energy generated from fossil fuels.” The article then goes on to say it would give families the ability to put more of their money and resources back into the economy (https://sciencing.com/social-impacts-of-solar-energy-12084229.html).