We all know climate change is real right? Well OK for some of the tin-foil hat brigade, maybe thats a litle bit controversial, so lets try another opening argument:

Being Wasteful With Finite Resources Is Unwise

I hope that is less troublesome for the contrails crew, and I think most people could probably get behind that sort of argument; no matter how you split it, there is only so much coal, oil, gas, plutonium and uranium available, when its gone, its gone. Sure we could wait another few million years to make some more hydrocarbon fuels, but personally, Im not prepared to wait that long for my next cup of tea (Im British, so this is no joking matter!).

We Can Fix It in Time

So we can hope that any number of new technologies will come along that will reduce our energy reliance on existing finite methods/sources.

We can perhaps invent crops or methods to create bio-fuels more efficiently than today, but this is always going to compete for land and water with food production, and we as a global population are still growing, space for food is running out already.

We maybe can do nulear fusion, its pretty safe, the radioactive materials output are safe after about a hundred years, rather than the thousands of years with nuclear fission. The problem is it doesnt work commercially yet, there is a joke that nuclear fusion is always 50 years away.

Living in hope of a solution from one of these or other promising technologies is great, but hope doesnt boil my kettle.

Wind, hydro ect. are wonderful, but mass deployments are beyond what we as individuals can do.

So the only feasible route for you to make a difference to the runaway consumption of finite resources, and that is available right now, is solar.

Solar CSP or Solar PV

There are two types of solar panels, the kind that heat water, and the kind that make electricity. The latter is solar PV and thats what I favour; CSP is OK but there are maintenance costs and you cant do a lot with hot water, at least not nearly as much as with electricity (which you can use to heat your hot water as well).

Solar PV, makes electricity cleanly, quietly and unlike a nuclear plant, if something goes wrong it wont create a 50 mile exclusion zone.

Costs And Returns

Many people (including myself) looked at the cost of solar PV, and realise it isnt a trivial investment. This leads to concerns over payback and value. I cant tell you how much a solar PV system will cost for you, but I can tell you it does payback at least what it cost you in most circumstances.
The critical things to know are how much you currently spend on energy and how much energy your solar PV system would make in a 25 year lifetime.
My personal example is that with no incentives from government at all, my solar PV system will pay for itself in about 16 to 18 years, wow that seems like a long time, doesnt it! Bear in mind, I live at 51 degrees north, that means Im actually closer to the North Pole, than to the equator!
A solar PV system like mine, though, has equipment with warranties of 20 years, and an expected lifetime of 25 years or more.

When you take government incentives into account, my payback is more like 8-9 years. But we all know governments are unrealiable, and this is where crypto-currency can save the day. Without making this article too long, if you own solar panels, you can claim free SolarCoin from www.solarcoin.org, yup FREE. How can it be free, well it isnt, you have done the work of installing solar panels, so its not really free now, is it?

Aethsetics

Solar panels dont always look good, but they can look very nice, I love our all black panels, they look sharper than the creases in James Bonds tuxedo

I could have made this a much longer post, I have a pretty decent understanding of solar for a lay person, so if you have been thinking about it, feel free to ask and Ill do my best to convince you honestly answer your questions.