Here in the United States on a day with full sun, about 100 watts of solar power falls on each square-foot of land. While it's true that you cannot harvest all of it, there are a large number of benefits in gathering what you can. The following are just a few of most important ones. A more detailed article on the advantages and disadavtages of home solar power can be found here.
Advantages
- No moving parts. If you careful in what you buy and build, the system is much less likely to fail.
- Small backup or emergency systems can be very portable. You do not have to think large; small systems are tremendously useful.
- Commercially-made solar panels typically have a life of roughly 25 years.
- They produce no pollution, no emissions and no noise.
- The only fuel needed is sunlight
- Solar power systems are useful in most places in the world.
- They usually pay for themselves in 3 to 5 years -- sometimes even less.
Of course no system is perfect. Here are some ...
Disadvantages
- They can be damaged by strong winds and flying debris (but there are ways to protect them)
- They do eventually wear out in 25 years or so due to exposure to sunlight
- Commercial panels are made overseas rather than locally (but there are ways to make them yourself)
- Solar power is completely dependent upon the sunlight conditions (but you should never have just one source of power anyway)
- If you purchase solar panels commercially, their initial cost is high -- about $23,000 for a full 3 kW home system. (But as mentioned above, there are ways to make them yourself.)
In most locations, solar power is one of the best alternative or backup electricity sources. To learn the vital basics of solar power and how to go about building a small solar electricity system, take this free, easy-to-understand introductory course.