What are the drawbacks of solar energy?

Answer 1

The main problems with solar energy can be summed up by saying we don't really have the technology down. I'll explain: Solar heating of water (a direct heat transfer in this case with nothing fancy going on) works well -- but only in sunny months (when hot water isn't at a premium). Solar temperature collectors don't work well on cloudy days or at all at night, so they're intermittent at best. And they're very pricey. And worst of all, can you envision the risks invovled in having 100-200g of water on the roof of your house? It's a huge liability in exchange for an intermittently working tehcnology that seems to work least when its needed most. Solar-to-electric is probably worse. You can build photovoltaic cells, but they share almost all the shortcomings of them thermal water storage units (except the water of course), and they're made using chemical processes with highly reactive compounds that themselves are often very toxic. Silver looms large in the current photovoltaic process, and pretty much all silver salts are toxic -- some more than others. In addition to this, silver, among other components, is very expensive. And as solar to electricity conversion only works when the sun is up, we also need huge batteries (unless you're happy to live in the dark and cold until morning). Battery technology also produces a serious toxicity problem. So -- at this point in time anyway -- changing over to solar power is hugely costly, very toxic, has many points of failure in the process, and overall causes more problems than it solves. In time, perhaps we'll get the technology nailed so we don't have to use dangerous or costly components but, until that time, solar energy isn't an effective energy solution. Wish it were.

Answer 2

1- Initial cost of equipment, and the production of the components (mostly hazardous)

2- Covers large space due to high surface area requirement...

3- Pollution on panels or natural events like cloudy sky can degrade the efficiency of the cells, causing an unstable electricity generation.

4- Needs light, which means it is not possible to have a 24 hour shift.