Question

Solar energy technology is expensive, but it has been improving in efficiency over the years. Today, many small appliances, such as calculators, watches, and patio lights, are powered with solar panels. How does this increased use of solar energy affect the availability of solar energy?

Answer 1

Solar energy is kind of like a natural waterfall.

The amount of water you catch in your bucket at the bottom of the falls
has no affect whatsoever on how much pours over the falls.

It doesn't matter how much solar energy we use ... to run our calculators
and patio lights, or to run every car and industrial manufacturing plant
in the world ... it has no effect whatsoever on the amount of solar energy
reaching Earth from the sun and available to us.

IN FACT . . . if we ever reach the point of using humongous amounts of
solar energy, that may make solar energy a little bit MORE available to us.
It'll mean that we're using less coal, oil, and gas, belching less pollution
into the atmosphere, making the air a little more clear and transparent,
so a little MORE solar energy reaches the ground where we can collect it.