The man and I live on a sailboat, and we have a solar panel and it works very well. We've met with other cruisers and they too have solar. Some say they even have it on they houses. We have just one, but it works very well. Runs our lights, the fauset and the bildge. The cost for the panels and its hook it, can be pricey. But by solar energy, you are not having to use as much power for the Energy Companys. And they get their fuels by other means. And it also produces toxins into the enviroment. Not sure if this happened where you lived, but when gas prices got stupid, the cost of Electricity jumped up too. So having A solar panel, I think, is good for the enviroment, as well as on the pocket in the long run.

There is no possible way to use solar energy to keep a house warm in a New York winter. You can use solar energy to run a computer, some lights, a television, a fan but not a refrigerator, freezer, air conditioner or heater. We have not yet figured out how to store that much energy for those uses. And forget manufacturing like making steel, plastic, or food preparation. We would need something we have yet to discover....although the Bloom Box is coming closer. (It doesn't need sunshine, though). Google it on YouTube.

The big drawback to solar energy is its limited potential with respect to the massive energy needs of the world in the future. Solar energy ( i e solar panels and the like) could at best supply only a small fraction of the future energy needs of the world ( and that at a higher cost per btu) than other forms of energy. In addition, the cost of storage batteries to store enough solar generated energy for use at night in bad weather is prohibitive which restricts the applications for solar energy.

The best application of solar energy panels is in under developed countries where there is no distribution network for other sources of energy and where the need for large amounts of energy per application is not great.

I'm confident that you must pick up everything that have to do with solar power at www.redsolarwho.com.

In terms of pollution, sustainability, and habitat loss, solar energy sums up pretty well. The only con about it is the intial cost. But even though it is an all-rounder. How can I explain this in more detail, also using comparison with other alternative energy sources.