Solar panels, or photovoltaics (PV), have been around for many years now, helping businesses and homes save money while also helping the environment along the way. Solar panels are an easy and effective way to help your office go green and meet your company’s emissions targets.
How Do Solar Panels Work?
Solar panels use photons (particles of light) in sunlight to generate electricity, however, they do not have the ability to store the electricity generated. Instead, unless you have an additional battery storage system in place, any electricity created must be used while it is being generated or it will be sent off to the electricity grid.
Sending Your Excess Energy to the Grid
In order to ensure you gain the most out of your system, it is important that you connect your system to the grid as you could receive some money back. This is all a part of the government’s innovative Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme which came into play in 2010 as a way to encourage people to start generating their own energy.
As well as this, your installer will do all the hard work for you. All you have to do is ask for it! It’s really a win-win situation.
What Are They Made Of?
Solar panels are made up of individual units which are fixed to an array and placed on the roof of a building. Each panel within the array is made up of cells which convert solar energy into electricity. Therefore, the more panels placed in an array, the more electricity can be generated at any one time.
As well as this, some systems have an export meter which shows how much of the electricity produced has been sent off to the electricity grid. This is to help determine how much electricity has been consumed and what remainder has been sent off, allowing owners to determine whether they can use more appliances, are sending too much waste to the grid or if they need to install more solar panels.
The Benefits
Solar panels have a wide range of benefits for both homes and organisations, the main three being:
It’s a Renewable Energy Source
This is probably the most important benefit of solar, it’s a renewable energy source. Solar energy can be harnessed in every country across the globe and it is always readily available. Solar energy can be produced for as long as the sun is shining, so it is impossible to run out of! You are, therefore, generating electricity from a natural source and are not releasing any toxic fumes to do so. It benefits everyone.
From this, solar panels will help you lower your carbon footprint as they are said to save around 2 tonnes of carbon each year per household, nevermind businesses or organisations. [1]
Lower Energy Bills
As solar panels generate energy using free sunlight, your energy bills will drop. However, the amount depends on how big your system is and how much energy you end up using. As well as this, if you generate more electricity than you need or use, you may be able to sell it back to the electricity grid and make some of that money back. What more could you ask for?
Low Maintenance Costs
Finally, we have low maintenance costs, another benefit of solar panels which all businesses look out for. The only cost you may encounter is the cleaning of solar panels, which only needs doing a couple of times each year, or the odd part replacement every decade or so.
As well as this, you may not need to worry about the damages, wear and tear or failure of your solar panels as most manufacturers offer 20 years-plus warranty, so you have nothing to lose.
Will you be Investing in Solar Panels?
Now that we’ve stated the key benefits of solar panels, with minimal additional fees on your part, will you be investing in solar panels to help your office go green?
Find more innovative ways to help your office go green
Global Office Supplies specialise in cutting down costs on the products that your office consumes on a daily basis. Our selection of award-winning services provide the green office solution you have been looking for all under one roof, saving time, money and the environment.
What’s more, we can deliver green office supplies directly to your office with our free same day delivery service.
For more information, please contact Global Office Supplies on 0208 304 0185, email to sales@globaloffice.co.uk or by filling out the contact form on our contact page.
