Topic : Sunlight energy

Audience : Energy consumers

Purpose : To remind energy consumers of the shortage of the amount of fossil fuel and urge them to try to replace it with sunlight energy.

<Energy import dependency>

<Energy use by source>

Evaluate the topic :

1. Description :

 As the dust from the industrial areas in China flies across the ocean and blankets the cities in Korea, more and more people are getting interested in alternative energies. Sunlight energy is especially getting huge attention among many other alternative energies due to its endless energy source, Sun. The sun releases about 1021 Kcal of thermal energy a year and only 1/2,000,000,000 of it arrives in the earth. It is almost the same amount of energy as the total energy that is used for one year on the earth. To make use of the sunlight effectively as an energy, sunlight should be converted into electricity. This is done by using solar panels that are large panels consisting of plenty of individual solar cells.

2. Good points :

 First, Sunlight is free to anyone. Fossil fuel is monopolized by some specific countries and they try to control the world. However, solar energy is available to any countries in the world. It can lead to energy equality, which can make the world more peaceful and rich.








 Second, solar energy doesn't pollute the environment. We are undergoing serious climate disaster due to the abuse of
fossil fuel. Once solar energy is commercialized, it is expected that the degree of environmental pollution will remarkably decrease and it will lead to sustainable development throughout the world.








 Third, solar energy can be used in remote areas. It's not easy to make electricity using fossil fuel in some areas in the world because of its geographical reasons or low level of development. With only solar panels and energy converters, sunlight can be harnessed as an energy.

3. Bad points :

 First, solar energy depends too much on the weather. If the weather is not so good, the energy efficiency is very low, which means solar energy doesn't have marketability. It requires a high technology that collects sunlight very effectively regardless of the weather conditions.









 Second, it's quite expensive to manufacture solar panels and cells. This is the main point that makes people hesitate to purchase the solar energy system device. What makes worse, it can cost much more money to maintain the system.







 Third, the factory requires gigantic storage space. Solar energy system needs tons of  huge batteries to keep the electricity. It requires high costs of initial investment.

Expression :

1. Your overall opinion of the topic :

 Although it's too early to commercialize sunlight energy, it has a bright prospect. Korea doesn't have any high-value resources such as oil and gas. It's a great opportunity for us to get in the foot in the new energy market earlier than other countries. To put off the great achievement in alternative energies, however, there are lots of barriers to get over and the market has to show its visible growth potential to the investors. These days, lots of Korean global corporations like LG chemical and Hanwha are working hard on it. Not to fall behind in the energy market, other Korean companies also need to invest large part of their budget in solar energy.

2. Your recommendation :

Even though it hasn't shown any impressive results, I'm pretty sure energy
consumers should keep their eyes on alternative energy, especially solar energy because we are facing serious energy  inequality and imbalance in this era. Commercializing alternative energy isn't accomplished without the efforts by consumers. Energy consumers also have to think over the seriousness of energy shortage and environmental contamination and focus on the situation of energy market.









reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy
http://www.technologystudent.com/energy1/solar7.htm
http://www.aleo-solar.de/en/products/solarstrom-speicher/