Fossil vs. Solar
Fossil fuels must be burned to make electricity. Doing so creates byproducts that can create air and water pollution and release huge amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. However, solar panels produce power without waste or emissions, and do so through a natural process. Solar energy is available nearly everywhere, and will be for another 5 billion years.
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Costs
Fossil-fuel plants are not as expensive per megawatt as solar power systems, but you'll need to pay for the fuel as long as you use the plant. Solar power costs more up front, but the fuel is free, and the maintenance costs are much lower than for fossil fuel plants. Together, the basic costs of solar power generation are about two to three times the cost of fossil fuel plants. When you add in distribution costs and specific local variables, there are some places where solar energy is already as cheap as fossil-fuel energy and solar costs are likely to fall more than fossil-fuel costs.
![Picture](/uploads/6/8/9/1/68912013/697911932.png?520)
This graph shows the decrease in fossil fuels and the growth of clean energy. Solar is represented in the yellow bar, which visibly has exponential growth.