Benefits of Solar Energy: A Literature Review Report

This report provides a comprehensive literature review on the benefits of solar energy. It begins with an introduction to solar energy, defining it as a source of energy derived from sunlight, and highlights its efficiency compared to traditional energy sources. The report addresses the problem statement by discussing the challenges in implementing solar energy systems, such as the cost and inconsistent availability. The literature review section analyzes various research papers, emphasizing solar energy's efficiency, renewable nature, and reduced environmental impact. The theoretical framework discusses the role of solar energy in electricity generation, the importance of understanding its advantages and drawbacks, and the influence of government regulations. The report concludes by emphasizing the awareness of solar energy's efficiency, environmental benefits, and cost-effectiveness as key factors for its widespread adoption.

The benefits of Solar Energy

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Problem statement................................................................................................................................2
Literature review...................................................................................................................................2
Theoretical framework..........................................................................................................................5
Hypothesis.............................................................................................................................................5
References.............................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The term solar is defined as a source which is used to generate energy from
sunlight and it is one of the common sources that allow consumers to get energy from
the sun. With the help of solar energy, a large amount of electricity can be generated
(Zhang, Shen, & Chan, 2012). It is more sufficient rather than other due to which many
business industries and communities are using this process for generating electric
energy. The main benefit of solar energy is that it is more effective for generating a huge
amount of electricity (Wiser, et al., 2016). The purpose of this research is to examine the
fundamental concept of solar energy and evaluate the benefits of solar energy. This
research study focuses on the key points associated with solar energy and highlights the
advantages and disadvantages of the solar energy system. A literature review will be
conducted for analysing the viewpoints of other researchers and analyse findings or
results of previous research papers. The literature section will help to identify the
research gaps in previous articles and investigate the importance of solar energy in this
modern era.
Problem statement
Solar energy is one of the advanced techniques for generating electric energy
from the sun and it is used by many countries like US, UK and so on. It is observed that
designing and implementing solar energy system in an effective manner is one of the
critical problems (Palit, 2013). It requires more efforts and cost for collecting energy
signals from the sun and after that convert into usable electric energy. A recent study
identified that it is very important to establish solar energy system effectively which can
provide a large number of energy signals from the sun (Devabhaktuni, et al., 2013).
Inconsistent availability is another problem occurs with the solar energy process
because it is completely based on the nature of the sun and the weather’s situation. Such
kinds of problems are very useful and practical for this investigation and this research
paper provides in-depth analysis about these problems and critically evaluates the
benefits of solar energy.

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Literature review
Solar energy is one of the common topics for research and there are numerous
researchers provided their views on this topic. This literature section provides
complete information about the research question and analyses the results and findings
of previous studies.
According to Bauner, & Crago, (2015) solar energy is one of the efficient systems
for producing a huge amount of electric energy and it is a renewable energy source that
obtains energy from sun lights. This journal paper highlighted the key factors linked
with solar energy and analysed advantages and disadvantages of solar energy. It is
observed that effectiveness is one of the best advantages of solar energy due to which
many business industries are using this approach for generating electric energy (Zhang,
Shen, & Chan, 2012). This paper also collected related information from previous
research studies and identified that it is very difficult to collect a large amount of energy
from solar because it requires complete configuration process along with the intensity
of the sun.
Branker, Pathak, & Pearce, (2011) identified that solar energy is gathered from
the radiation of the sun and it can be easily converted into electric energy and heat
energy. This research paper examined the risk factors associated with solar energy and
evaluated the working principle of solar energy while producing electric energy directly
from the sun. After analysing this paper it has been found that solar energy has the less
negative impact on the environment as compared to other traditional energy systems
which are another key benefit of the solar system (Siler-Evans, Azevedo, Morgan, & Apt,
2013).
Moreover, such kind of energy source does not generate greenhouse gases and
does not increase the issue of air pollution due to which it can be used for generating
electric energy in towns and cities. The researchers suggested that the cost of solar
energy is very high rather than traditional energy sources which are the biggest
drawback of solar energy (Zhang, Shen, & Chan, 2012). The authors did not provide
more information about the benefits of solar energy which produced a research gap
between information and research question. But, this literature review reduces such

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kind of gaps and drawbacks of previous studies by critically analysing the concept of
solar energy along with their benefits.
According to Hernandez, et al., (2014) generating electric energy from sun lights
can reduce the amount of bill because consumers can directly receive electricity from a
solar based system. This research article conducted a literature review for improving
the effectiveness of the paper. From the literature section it has been found that solar
energy is a renewable energy source which is applicable for any location or place and it
can be deployed anywhere. It is observed that solar energy based system is also utilized
in order to power up boats and spacecraft. A recent study conducted by the authors
identified that solar energy is a more expansive technique for generating energy from
sunlight (Palit, 2013).
Liu, & Troisi, (2013) stated that the solar energy system has the potential for
improving the security of grids in an effective manner. Moreover, a grid with large
penetration of solar energy has thousands of energy generation centres that are widely
spread out. This research paper provided in-depth analysis about the research topic and
adopted data analysis techniques in order to analyse the primary and secondary data
gathered from previous journal papers (Seo, et al., 2014). After analysing this paper it
has been found that solar energy uses photovoltaic cells in order to convert sunlight
into electric energy. In this research paper, the authors reviewed the solar photovoltaic
levelized cost of electricity. It is concluded that solar energy is more efficient for
generating a large amount of heat and electric energy but it needed proper knowledge
of equipment’s used in the solar system.
According to Hill, Such, Chen, Gonzalez, & Grady, (2012) designing and
implementing solar systems are very complex because it required more efforts and
skills to receive a huge amount of radiations from the sun. The other limitation
identified by the authors is that the solar energy system depends on the intensity of the
sun along with the weather for which it is not compulsory to get peak energy every
time. This paper highlighted the drawbacks and benefits of the solar energy system.
It is observed that the overall performance of the solar based system is very high
rather than traditional systems and it also reduce the errors and energy distortion
related problems (Timilsina, Kurdgelashvili, & Narbel, 2012). Moreover, solar energy

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also reduces the environmental impacts because it does not produce any unwanted
gases which are harmful to human body systems. There are few other benefits of solar
energy, for example, reduce air pollution, reduced dependence on foreign oil and fossil
fuels, use batteries to store extra power for use at night, safer than traditional energy
systems and more flexible while collecting signals and radiation from sunlight.
Theoretical framework
The critical outcome of this research study is that solar energy is an effective
process for generating electric or heat energy because it converts sun radiations into
energy by using photovoltaic cells. From the above discussion, it has been found that
solar energy plays a major role in the generation of electric current (Palit, 2013). Before
designing and implementing solar energy system it is very important to read and
analyse the advantages and drawbacks of solar energy. Therefore, a literature review
has conducted which provided complete information about solar energy along with
their benefits.
From the literature section it has identified that it has the ability for providing
electric current on a regular basis and does not impact on the environment. With the
help of literature review and previous research papers, the overall effectiveness of
research can be increased and the researchers can achieve aims and objectives of the
study. The major issue associated with solar energy is that it is more expensive in terms
of devices and equipment used for designing a solar system (Devabhaktuni, et al., 2013).
This research study mainly focused on the benefits of solar energy which creates
a research gap between facts and research topic because it is very important to describe
drawbacks along with the advantages of solar energy. It is observed that the dependent
variables of solar energy systems are efficiency, performance, devices and configuration
process. Moreover, government regulation is a moderating variable which could either
hinder or beneficial for consumers while using solar energy systems (Bauner, & Crago,
2015). It is suggested that for improving the support of solar energy in renewable
electricity demands it is very important to promote skill concerning its advantages and
increase the study level of modern technologies used in solar energy.

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Hypothesis
Awareness of Solar Energy efficiency, its beneficiary to the environment and it
cost effectiveness over the traditional energy will make it more eminent.[

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References
Bauner, C., & Crago, C. L. (2015). Adoption of residential solar power under uncertainty:
Implications for renewable energy incentives
. Energy Policy, 86(2), 27-35
.
Branker, K; Pathak, M.J.M & Pearce, J.M. ( 2011). A review of the solar photovoltaic
levelized cost of electricity.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15(9),
4470 – 4482.
Devabhaktuni, V., Alam, M., Depuru, S. S. S. R., Green II, R. C., Nims, D., & Near, C. (2013).
Solar energy: Trends and enabling technologies.
Renewable and Sustainable
Energy Reviews,
19, 555-564.
Hernandez, R. R., Easter, S. B., Murphy-Mariscal, M. L., Maestre, F. T., Tavassoli, M., Allen,
E. B., & Allen, M. F. (2014). Environmental impacts of utility-scale solar
energy.
Renewable and sustainable energy reviews,
29, 766-779.
Hill, C. A., Such, M. C., Chen, D., Gonzalez, J., & Grady, W. M. (2012). Battery energy
storage for enabling the integration of distributed solar power generation.
IEEE
Transactions on smart grid,
3(2), 850-857.
Liu, T., & Troisi, A. (2013). What makes fullerene acceptors special as electron acceptors
in organic solar cells and how to replace them.
Advanced Materials,
25(7), 1038-
1041.
Palit, D. (2013). Solar energy programs for rural electrification: Experiences and lessons
from South Asia.
Energy for Sustainable Development,
17(3), 270-279.
Seo, J., Park, S., Kim, Y. C., Jeon, N. J., Noh, J. H., Yoon, S. C., & Seok, S. I. (2014). Benefits of
very thin PCBM and LiF layers for solution-processed p–i–n perovskite solar
cells.
Energy & Environmental Science,
7(8), 2642-2646.
Siler-Evans, K., Azevedo, I. L., Morgan, M. G., & Apt, J. (2013). Regional variations in the
health, environmental, and climate benefits of wind and solar
generation.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
110(29), 11768-
11773.

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Timilsina, G. R., Kurdgelashvili, L., & Narbel, P. A. (2012). Solar energy: Markets,
economics and policies.
Renewable and sustainable energy reviews,
16(1), 449-
465.
Wiser, R., Millstein, D., Mai, T., Macknick, J., Carpenter, A., Cohen, S., ... & Heath, G. (2016).
The environmental and public health benefits of achieving high penetrations of
solar energy in the United States.
Energy,
113, 472-486.
Zhang, X., Shen, L., & Chan, S. Y. (2012). The diffusion of solar energy use in HK: what are
the barriers?.
Energy Policy,
41, 241-249.