Saving Lives and Money - The Potential of Solar [Interesting Facts]
We all know how good Solar power is in comparison to all the other fossil fuels, that are bound to run out. But do you truly know how many lives and money could be saved by switching to Solar power entirely?
By swapping solar photovoltaics for coal, the US could prevent 51,999 premature deaths a year, potentially making as much as $2.5 million for each life saved.
I don't really like comparing a human life to anything money related, but those are really huge numbers.
The Researchers from the Michigan Technological University created a study, that was published Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews. The Study aimed to calculate the cost of combusting coal in terms of human lives along with the potential benefits of switching to solar.
Health Impact:
pollution-related diseases kill tens of thousands of people in America yearly, just by burning coal. The Transition to solar power could reduce this amount greatly and could be able to save around 51,999 American lives yearly, with just $1.1 million invested per life.
Unlike other public health investments, you get more than lives saved, In addition to saving lives, solar is producing electricity, which has economic value.
Says the professor of materials science and electrical engineering at Michigan Tech.
Analyzing data of the value of electricity in various regions in the USA revealed that saving lives by using solar power instead of coal has a great potential to make money. The Value per life sometimes reaches as much as several million dollars.
Everybody wants to avoid wasting money. Just based on the pure value of electricity of the sensitivities we looked at, it's profitable to save American lives by eliminating coal with solar
he explained.
This infographic shows a solid number of people that die from air pollution.
The Investment:
The Replace all the power that is currently generated from the coal with solar power, would need a grant total of 755 gigawatts - which compared to today's number of 22.7 gigawatts produced by solar is a lot. The installation of this amount of solar panels would cost a total of $1.5 trillion dollars.
We actually have all the technology to switch from the unhealthy coal to the renewable energy source called solar.