Natural resource -Solar Resource Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Natural resource -Solar Resource - Essay Example In their analysis of economics of pollution however, the authors note that pollution is a side effect of practices that provide the human race with good things. The profound consequences of industrial production result in air pollution and discharge of pollutants into rivers through the manufacture of fertilizers. Therefore, this essay examines and discusses the social costs and benefits of externalities especially pollution and explains how solar energy can give solution to harmful activities associated with extraction of natural resources. The question of how much pollution that should be allowed takes everyone back to the evaluation of marginal social cost of pollution and also the marginal social benefit of pollution. Krugman and Wells (2012), define marginal social cost of pollution as the extra cost placed on the society as a whole by each extra unit of pollution whereas the marginal social benefit is the additional advantage to the society as a result of pollution. Conventionally, pollution carries along an external cost and yields both marginal benefits and cost to the society and these benefits are influenced by the decisions of the owners of the companies who determine how much pollution should occur in absence of government intervention (Krugman & Wells, 2012). As noted in this chapter, environmental costs of pollution are the most popular and essential example of external costs, which are usually uncompensated costs imposed on other people by individuals or firms. In the process of extracting natural resourc es, industries emit and also discharge harmful substances into the environment whose implications jeopardize human welfare. In order to minimize the effects of production, alternative sources of energy such as solar energy resource that are eco-friendly and sustainable can be opted. Since the sunshine is usually in abundance and free, solar energy can be the best alternative source of