There are several long-term benefits to adopting solar energy. First off, the majority of the materials on solar panels contain glass and metal, both easily recyclable. Another plus is that we can store the energy for future use via batteries either with your utility company or for your own house if you choose to buy your own. Once sundown comes there is no more energy production so everything overproduced will go into storage and continue to help houses and facilities run overnight.

Another positive to setting up and having batteries is storage. Having energy storage across the power grid will increase the grid’s resilience and minimize the chances of future power outages. If local power lines are down, the facility can rely on power produced by solar panels and/or batteries. They will at least be able to run for several hours before the power does go out, but even at that it is most likely for service to be restored by then. If power goes out for a given community, though it may not be able to send excess power it could provide just enough to meet local energy needs via solar power and other stored energy. We are heading in the direction where more and more power producers are now relying on a mix of solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources to provide steady streams of power.

All in all the more people that go solar, the less likely will we have the chance for a power outage. It is most definitely a community effort.