Sustainable Architecture and Solar Energy

The history of sustainable architecture begins upon the Kyoto agreement: in 1997, scientists and top officials from all over the world came to Japan and made a decision to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 2010.

Since that time many countries have focused attention on discussing the necessity of environmental behavior rather than working on the carbon emissions issue. Moreover, some signatory countries have enlarged greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto agreement, like Canada, whose carbon emission level has risen by more than 20% since 1990.

Scientific community warns that it is extremely vital to reduce carbon emissions by 20% to 25% by 2020 otherwise the effects of climate change will be rather dangerous.

Their arguments are more than compelling: the over-consumption of fossil fuels leads to the loss of non-renewable resources, pollution of the air, water, and soil. Perhaps, that is one of the reasons why people seek for the solar panel company and buy solar panels: this is a way to save the environment and some money as well.

Sustainable Buildings

What is sustainable architecture? This type of architecture aims to cut down the negative impact of buildings on the environment. The constructors tend to keep efficiency and moderation while using the materials, energy, and space. Sustainable or ‘ecological’ architects also use care about ecological conservation while designing the built environment. The concept of sustainability is to prove that humans’ actions today do not do harm. It presupposes not only usage of renewable energy sources throughout the designing, construction and operation.

The genuinely sustainable architecture also includes the eco-green manufacture and transportation of materials, equipment, etc. It is only natural that more and more people try to invest in renewable energy.

As the goal of sustainable architecture is to make sure that the entire life of a building does not contravene the rational use of energy, the architects employ various passive and active techniques to lower the power needs of construction and enlarge its ability to save or produce its own energy. Consequently, such factors as daylight, solar heat gains, and ventilation are analyzed and exploited. What is more, today residents have to solve pollution problems independently.

Renewable Energy

But let’s concentrate on the energy we get from the sun. As the scientists assure, the sun will be shining for the next 6 billion years. It generates enough energy to fill all the needs of humanity and machines, plants on the planet. Moreover, it is an eco-friendly source of renewable energy. Solar cells do not pollute the atmosphere; even if they affect the environment, they do that less than every other source of energy.

There are many reasons why the usage of solar power systems on homes is growing in popularity and the governments are fostering this tendency. For example, in a number of U.S. states homeowners are being offered a wide range of options to purchase rooftop solar energy systems. It gives them an opportunity to cut electricity costs and even get a chance to generate and sell the energy. In Europe, a number of Scandinavian countries are leading in residential solar system installation and usage. What is more, numerous hotels start using solar energy to attract new clients and improve their services.

Benefits of Solar Panels

What makes solar power systems such an attractive option? In fact, there is a wide range of benefits, such as:

• Cost effectiveness factor. Despite the arguments that solar cells cost a lot, the residential solar system can reduce electricity bills notably, especially during cold months.
• Economic incentive. Solar panels influence on net metering as well as tax incentives.

Solar power contributes to economic growth, sure enough. The more people use power from the sun, the more opportunities they get. Average homeowners often experience power blackouts, but developing sustainable architecture and exploring solar panels will help better the environment, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and make life more eco-friendly!