Solar Power or Wind Turbine

The weather around us is able to help power communities all over the world! All we need is a little sunshine and wind to gather energy to generate electricity and heat that can power residential and commercial properties alike. It's something people have been doing for centuries but has more recently, and with the aid of technology, started to become widespread and more accessible. If you're trying to choose which one is best for you: solar power or a wind turbine, it could be beneficial to look into the costs of these technologies, how long they last, the environmental impact, and their reliability.

Solar Power

Solar panels are great choices anywhere the sun shines! The solar panels are able to collect the sun's rays and turn them into energy, but this works better in geographic locations where the sun shines more often. The solar panels take up a fair amount of space, but they can be placed anywhere as long as they are facing in a direction that allows for the most amount of sunlight possible. Once installed, these panels have very little maintenance while in operation, aside from cleaning the panels periodically and changing the inverters and batteries every five to ten years. Otherwise, these panels can last up to 30 years without much intervention. These systems are incredibly reliable as long as the sun is shining and with no moving parts, they are completely silent during operation.

Wind Turbine

Wind turbines can be a good option wherever there is enough wind to count on to power buildings, believe it or not, geography matters with wind energy more than it does for solar! If you're in a location without much wind, a wind turbine won't be all that helpful. Turbines are space-efficient, but they need to be placed high up to take advantage of the wind so there can't be any obstacles surrounding them. They are also much more expensive to install and maintain because even though these systems last for 20 to 25 years, they feature a lot of moving parts that must be well-maintained and have a tendency to be pricey to replace. These parts are also louder than other forms of energy if they are placed too close to a building.