Discuss some of the limitations of using PV to power a home. What are the benefits of home installation of solar vs. remote installation of solar farm systems? What governmental incentives could be employed to make the installation of PV systems more economical? Photovoltaic panels have low levels of energy efficiency. They are not able to store energy for long periods of time which makes them ineffective. They also produce direct electric energy (DC) which has to be converted into alternating electric energy (AC) through inverters, before the produced electricity is used for its intended purpose. PV panels require a lot of sunshine for them to work effectively. This makes them unsuitable for areas that do not have adequate sunlight. PV powered energy systems have low output and are unable to operate heavy equipment that requires a lot of power to run. Home solar installation minimizes costs for those consumers who live far from the main power supply grids. A home solar installation makes it possible for a power consumer to store solar energy in batteries. The stored power can be used to satisfy crucial energy needs when the electric supply reduces or gets disrupted due to low sunlight. A consumer can easily install back –up power systems to complement the solar-powered system at home when there is not enough sunlight to charge solar batteries. This makes a solar power consumer have a steady supply of power at all times. The government needs to reduce taxes charged on solar equipment to ensure potential consumers are not discouraged to install these systems due to expensive costs. It also needs to train experts to enable them to manage solar power systems in different locations to encourage more people to use them. This will ensure that many people have the necessary skills to maintain solar power systems in different locations. The government should reduce taxes charged on large scale investors of solar projects that have the capacity to power many homes and industries. This will encourage more investors to invest their funds in the energy sector to offer innovative solar power services that are suitable for customers’ energy needs. Discuss the use of hydropower, wind power, and geothermal power describing the benefits and problems associated with each energy source. Which source would you promote? Why? Hydropower is electric energy captured from moving water in reservoirs which turn turbines. These turbines power generators which produce electricity. Hydropower is suitable for large scale power consumption because it allows many consumers to get connected to a large power grid. However, hydropower is not suitable for areas that do not have large reservoirs. A hydropower station requires a lot of funds to build a reservoir and its construction can cause many people to get displaced. Diagram 1: An illustration of how a hydropower station produces electric energy for different uses. Source: nationalatlas.gov. “Renewable Energy Sources in the United States.” Wind power is the energy captured from wind turbines which are used to generate electricity. Wind turbines are placed in areas that have high wind speeds to ensure they generate high amounts of electricity. Large-scale wind power projects on wind farms can serve the energy needs of many people in an area. However, the cost of setting up a wind farm is very high