{"id":5894,"date":"2015-11-11T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-11T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.portal.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/"},"modified":"2019-11-13T22:31:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T22:31:16","slug":"wind-power-vs-solar-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Wind Power vs. Solar Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

In 2014, 369.6 GW of energy was generated from wind power globally. This number continues to grow every year, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Wind power has now reached 4% of total energy production in the world, and some countries gain a significant part of their electricity requirements from wind sources. Denmark, for example, harvest 40% of all it\u2019s energy from wind turbines.<\/p>\n

Wind Power Around the World<\/strong><\/p>\n

The country with the largest wind farm is China. Their Gansu wind farm<\/a>\u00a0generates 6,000 MW of energy, which is about four and a half times more energy than is generated by the next largest wind farm. Worldwide, there are more than 200,000 windmills installed on land and at sea.<\/p>\n

Offshore wind power is a popular choice because it mitigates some of the problems posed by land based windmills. Currently, 10 European countries are generating enough power from offshore wind farms to power 5 million households every year. The largest and second largest offshore wind farms are both located off of the UK Coast. This is a result of the UK\u2019s prime location and generous financial backing from the government.<\/p>\n

Solar Power and its Growing Popularity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every day the sun gives us significantly more energy<\/a>\u00a0than we need to power the entire earth. It\u2019s up to us to harvest it. The problem isn\u2019t our current solar technology, which is actually quite good. The problem is transporting that energy from where it\u2019s generated to where it\u2019s needed. The best place to generate electricity is somewhere like the Sahara Desert or the American South West. However, these locations can often be hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away from where the electricity is needed. Despite the setbacks of building large, commercial scale solar farms, homeowners can enjoy the benefits of having their own personal system without having to worry about power transmission or poor infrastructure.<\/p>\n

In 2014, more than 185 million MW of electricity was generated from solar panels. That accounted for 0.79% of earth\u2019s total energy requirements. While solar panels are already popular in countries like America, China, and Germany, many other countries are now embracing technology. Brazil is promising to start investing heavily in solar energy and Japan has pioneered a way to deploy solar panels on water<\/a>, in order to utilize space that was previously unable to generate renewable energy.<\/p>\n

Which Renewable Energy Source is Best? <\/strong><\/p>\n

After considering all the facts, there is an obvious winner: solar energy. There are a couple of large drawbacks associated with wind energy. First, some people don\u2019t like the sight of massive windmills on the horizon. These people feel that the windmills disrupt the scenery and create an eye sore. On the other hand, solar panels can be installed on a person\u2019s roof where they are virtually invisible. Additionally, solar panels installed in a field won\u2019t stand taller than 10 to 15 feet and are significantly less distracting than a large windmill.<\/p>\n

Another problem with wind power is just to generate enough power for a single home, a person will need to install an 80-foot windmill. Furthermore, windmills tend to work poorly in residential areas since homes and buildings can disrupt the flow of air. This isn\u2019t the case with solar panels. As long as you have access to the sun every day, you\u2019re good to go. If you live in California, on average your roof will receive 5.5 hours of direct sunlight a day. This is more than enough to justify installing a solar panel system. In fact, if you install a battery backup system<\/a>, you\u2019ll be able to use solar energy to power your home around the clock.<\/p>\n

Federal tax credits and other state renewable energy programs can help to ease the load of installing a new system. With government aid, most people only end up paying half of the total price of installing a solar panel system. Read our article about some of the programs available to residents of California<\/a>\u00a0in order to get a better understanding of your options. Finally, if you\u2019re ready to go green, contact Solar.com<\/a>\u00a0today! We will help you get the process started and shave thousands of dollars off the price tag in the process.<\/p>\n

Sources <\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.awea.org\/Resources\/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=900<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/cleantechnica.com\/solar-power\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.alternative-energy-news.info\/benefits-solar-power-infographic\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/themindunleashed.org\/2015\/05\/this-area-would-be-enough-to-power-the-whole-world-with-solar-energy.html<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  In 2014, 369.6 GW of energy was generated from wind power globally. This number continues to grow every year, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Wind power…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":6073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWind Power vs. Solar Power | Solar.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Both solar and wind power are rapidly developing renewable technologies, but which one is better? Compare and contrast wind and solar energy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wind Power vs. Solar Power\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Both solar and wind power are rapidly developing renewable technologies, but which one is better? Compare and contrast wind and solar energy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Solar.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-11T11:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-13T22:31:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/solarassets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Solar_vs_wind.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sam Baker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sam Baker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sam Baker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/1d3d7aaa65e676231ae5c275e27bbcce\"},\"headline\":\"Wind Power vs. Solar Power\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-11T11:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-13T22:31:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/\"},\"wordCount\":732,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"How Do Solar Panels Lower Your Electric Bill?\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/\",\"name\":\"Wind Power vs. Solar Power | Solar.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-11T11:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-13T22:31:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Both solar and wind power are rapidly developing renewable technologies, but which one is better? Compare and contrast wind and solar energy.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Solar Learning Center\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Pros and Cons of Rooftop Solar in 2026\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-energy-pros-cons\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How Do Solar Panels Lower Your Electric Bill?\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/lower-your-electricity-bill\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Wind Power vs. Solar Power\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/\",\"name\":\"Solar.com\",\"description\":\"Solar Learning Center\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"solar.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"solar.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/1d3d7aaa65e676231ae5c275e27bbcce\",\"name\":\"Sam Baker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bae69311a3befdf5d1e2af2314950f68?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bae69311a3befdf5d1e2af2314950f68?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sam Baker\"},\"description\":\"Sam is a former Project Manager for Electrum and Solar.com, where he fostered communcation between solar installers, homeowners, grid operators, financiers, and local government agencies. His day to day work gave him detailed insight into the process of\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/author\/sam-baker\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Wind Power vs. Solar Power | Solar.com","description":"Both solar and wind power are rapidly developing renewable technologies, but which one is better? Compare and contrast wind and solar energy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Wind Power vs. Solar Power","og_description":"Both solar and wind power are rapidly developing renewable technologies, but which one is better? Compare and contrast wind and solar energy.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/","og_site_name":"Solar.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/","article_published_time":"2015-11-11T11:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-13T22:31:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/solarassets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Solar_vs_wind.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sam Baker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sam Baker","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/"},"author":{"name":"Sam Baker","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/1d3d7aaa65e676231ae5c275e27bbcce"},"headline":"Wind Power vs. Solar Power","datePublished":"2015-11-11T11:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-13T22:31:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/"},"wordCount":732,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["How Do Solar Panels Lower Your Electric Bill?"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/","name":"Wind Power vs. Solar Power | Solar.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-11-11T11:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-13T22:31:16+00:00","description":"Both solar and wind power are rapidly developing renewable technologies, but which one is better? Compare and contrast wind and solar energy.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wind-power-vs-solar-power\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Solar Learning Center","item":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Pros and Cons of Rooftop Solar in 2026","item":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/solar-energy-pros-cons\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How Do Solar Panels Lower Your Electric Bill?","item":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/lower-your-electricity-bill\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Wind Power vs. Solar Power"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/","name":"Solar.com","description":"Solar Learning Center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#organization","name":"solar.com","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/assets.solar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Solar.com-Logo.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"solar.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Solar.comOfficial\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/1d3d7aaa65e676231ae5c275e27bbcce","name":"Sam Baker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bae69311a3befdf5d1e2af2314950f68?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bae69311a3befdf5d1e2af2314950f68?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sam Baker"},"description":"Sam is a former Project Manager for Electrum and Solar.com, where he fostered communcation between solar installers, homeowners, grid operators, financiers, and local government agencies. His day to day work gave him detailed insight into the process of","url":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/author\/sam-baker\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5894"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5894"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8930,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5894\/revisions\/8930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solar.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}