Currently, the majority of businesses obtain their energy from the National Grid who generate electricity from a variety of methods mainly being from the burning of fossil fuels and nuclear energy. In addition to both of these sources being extraordinarily damaging to the environment, they are both expensive to generate and finite, in the case of fossil fuels. For businesses, this is incredibly important. Being reliant on the National Grid means that businesses are subject to the fluctuations in fossil fuel prices (which are only going to increase). Although this may be only a penny at a time, for large business energy customers a small increase can mean many thousands. As a result, many businesses are turning to renewable sources of electricity. The most accessible to self installation of which is solar panels and a solid investment for businesses.
Solar panels, or photovoltaic cells, convert light from the sun to useable, storable electricity. Currently, solar panel models have achieved up to 24% efficiency, although more commonly 21.5% efficiency meaning that 21.5% of the sunlight that reaches the panel surface is successfully converted to useable electricity. With time, it is estimated that developments on current models of solar panels could achieve efficiencies of up to or exceeding 50%. Considering that currently it is estimated that the use of solar panels could produce savings of up to 50% over non-renewable methods, this is a very exciting prospect. Further, solar panels are able to convert many (albeit not all) frequencies of light meaning that they are able to function on seemingly ‘cloudy’ days.
As solar panel technology becomes more advanced, the technology also becomes cheaper which make their use on a commercial level an increasingly viable option for businesses. Although the initial investment may appear to be steep, solar panels can quickly become profitable especially when installed on a large scale.
You may also be interested in reading my post about Solar Panels For A Solid Business Investment.