Since ancient times, the world has used fossil fuels including oils, gas and coal to power most of our energy everywhere from cooking a meal to flying airplanes around the world. In recent years, global problems have emerged due to the fact that these fuels are not renewable energy sources and the pollution they have caused to our oceans, forests and atmosphere. With our greatest source of life, the Sun, engineers have learned how to harness its power and create a clean, reusable energy source to power our Earth. It may seem easy to believe that we can transition to this clean energy source, however, many questions are raised in this process, including cost, efficiency, and production. Through this article I will describe the obstacles that prevent conversion to solar energy and how we can learn to overcome these obstacles and save our environment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay While solar energy can produce a cleaner environment, one concern is its cost compared to its fossil fuel-based counterparts. Solar energy can cost several times that of other fossil fuels even when its efficiency is significantly lower and leads to wasted heat (Problems with Solar Energy, 2018). Current solar energy systems cannot generate as much energy as oil. And given this higher production cost, many people consider switching from a common energy source inefficient. Additionally, solar panels are not an easy installation for, say, the average American. Consumers reject support for solar panels not because of their efficiency, but because of installation costs and other components that drive up costs (PSE, 2018). Most homes across the nation were built well before the creation of solar energy. Homeowners already have to deal with financial issues including mortgages, utilities and repairs. People don't believe in switching to this step because the process takes a long time and they are not patient enough to see this return on investment. While there is a return on investment over time, homeowners would still face maintenance issues to maintain these panels. Maintenance of solar panels is very different from that of other fossil fuels as instead of hiring an average plumber or handyman, you need to hire a specialist when there aren't many available in a phone book. When fossil fuels have been a staple in people's lives since their youth, it can be difficult to believe in this change, especially when solar panels are less efficient and the costs will accrue. Solar panel production is hampered due to inefficient materials and fluctuating production. costs. “Solar panels use expensive semiconductor materials to generate electricity directly from sunlight. Semiconductor factories require “clean” manufacturing environments and are expensive to build and maintain” (PSE, 2018). To produce these panels it is necessary to create conductor factories as if their environment had to be as clean as the instruments used for surgery. Individuals have taken on the task of setting up their own manufacturing site, but they tend to fail due to not only the costs of setting up these large factories, but also the daily expenses of keeping their factories in perfect condition. If theseconditions are not met, multiple problems occur including product damage or factory closure and with the money invested in these factories, they cannot afford any withholding. Additionally, when it comes to the materials used to create solar panels, “a key issue is the purity of the material. Current solar cell designs require high-purity, and therefore expensive, materials because impurities block the flow of electrical charge” (Make Solar Energy Economical, 2018). Impurities are the main problem when developing solar cells because any occurrence of them can lead to a complete rejection of the electrical flow in the cell. Solar cells must be created cell by cell to create the overall panel. The solar cell manufacturing process must be followed specifically to prevent production errors and waste. For this reason, the process is hindered because all production cannot be automated and still requires human resources to produce. Because of the cheaper products, foreign companies were given the opportunity to ship their products to America and compete with our domestic production. “Worse yet, in 2017 80% of solar panel infrastructure was imported from Asian manufacturers, meaning these funds don't even support American companies. Taxpayer-funded subsidies are funding foreign, particularly Asian, manufacturing” (Atwell, 2018). Since our government allows these imports, we are buying these products overseas and hurting our economy. American companies are therefore forced to compete with foreigners by cutting costs, resulting in cuts in funding and workers. Asian producers can continuously increase their production if our consumers continuously finance their products. Consumers' tendency towards imports can be seen through our government's fluctuating subsidies on solar energy causing domestic costs to rise (Atwell, 2018). Our government is still learning how to manage solar energy production nationwide. However, when targeted to support imports, domestic producers are unable to compete with these trends. While these imports are still being upgraded to clean energy, our economy is unable to take advantage of a growth opportunity that will be on our doorstep in the coming decades. Converting from fossil fuels to green energy is a necessary step we must take to preserve our environment and improve the quality of life on Earth. This is not a change that can be made overnight as solar energy has already been a process for the past few decades. Our main concern that we need to learn from is how to improve efficiency. It will take time to find new materials that reduce the cost of producing solar cells and reduce the amount of space used while improving energy production. Materials scientists have begun to refine their research to develop new materials that can be used to sharpen the sun's power. Many new materials have been introduced that prove stronger than silicon to turn the Sun into energy, however, not enough has been invested in these mining activities, which is why the cost has not been transformed into an affordable rate, for example, for the average American. Our government and the private sector must learn that investing money in this research will pay off in the long term because once cell efficiency improves, costs will decrease. The main problem of the owners.