Solar energy like wind turbines are a great source of renewable energy and is why many countries are funding large scale operations to build them. We all know fossil fuels are dwindling rapidly so ideas for alternative energy are essential. The most basic forms of solar energy are solar heating, solar photovoltaic, solar thermal electricity, and solar architecture. The ways these differ are how the energy is captured whether it being passive or active. Like other renewable energy sources, there are many pros and cons. Society is leaning more towards solar energy because fossil fuels are emitting so much carbon into the air that it is polluting our earth on a daily basis. Some advantages of solar energy are that it is a very clean energy source and emits no green house gases into the air. Also, it is very low cost and maintenance. Unlike oil and coal which have the direct opposite affect.  A few disadvantages that critics say are that solar energy is just inefficient. The sun goes down at night and if you live in a country where winters are long then that means less sun light. So until solar energy reaches its goals of maximum proficiency, fossil fuels will still be the dominant energy source.

The top six countries using solar energy are Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, the United States and lastly the Czech Republic.  Looking into Germany’s efforts of solar energy I came across the Waldpolenz Solar Park which covers almost a square mile of solar panels and feeds electricity to almost 40,000 homes. I believe countries should lean more towards what Germany has done with solar energy and instead of us having a ridiculous amount of permanent military bases, take some of them and build them like Waldpolenz Solar Park which use to be a military base in Europe.