Beginning with the surge in coal use which accompanied the industrial revolution, energy consumption has steadily transitioned from wood and biomass to fossil fuels .The early development of solar technologies starting in the 1860s was driven by an expectation that coal would soon become scarce. However, development of solar technologies stagnated in the early 20th century in the face of the increasing availability, economy, and utility of coal and petroleum. Solar concentrating technologies such as parabolic dish, trough and Scheffler reflectors can provide process heat for commercial and industrial applications. The main concern about both types of solar power generation–photo voltaic and concentrated solar power –is that they can potentially cause the displacement or exclusion from important habitats of nationally and/or globally threatened, rare, endemic or range-restricted bird species. Other potential risks include collision with the reflective surfaces. All these factors have been duly emphasized in the paper with suggested remedies of the probable environmental hazards.
Keywords: Photo Voltaic, Concentrated Solar Power, Energy Consumption, Solar Technologies, Scheffler Reflectors