8 Cool Things About Solar Power That Just Might Change the World
Rapid changes in the solar power sector are fueling a green energy revolution. With so much emphasis on solving the global warming puzzle, technology in solar is advancing very quickly and may be the answer we’ve been looking for. Let’s take a look at how this industry is changing so quickly.
1. Solar Panel Prices Are Coming Down – And Fast
The biggest detractor for solar in the past has been simple: it was just too expensive to be practical. Coal generated power was as much as 90% cheaper than solar power. But with the massive investment in production capacity, coupled with the global economic slowdown, prices on solar panels have come down anywhere from 10%-30% in the last 6 months. This means that many projects that were borderline before are now feasible. And the trend appears to be gaining steam. Prices on Sharp solar panels, for instance, have been lowered 3 times since May, bringing their cost into the $4/watt range. Just last year they were closer to $5/watt.
2. Solar Film Will Drive Prices Even Lower
Companies such as FirstSolar, Nanosolar, and Sharp are quickly bringing solar film, also called thin-film solar, to market. We’ve been promised this amazing technology for years and it seems its finally here. Thin film is manufactured in a way that is similar to printing, and the product often comes in a roll. This is a much more efficient way of producing cells than the traditional solar panel, which was made in a process similar to microchips. We are seeing initial pricing on this new technology in the $1 to $2/watt range.
3. Efficiency is Getting Better
Solar efficiency is the measure of power produced versus the sun’s energy that hits the panel. In the past any efficiency over 15% was seen as good, and approaching 20% was great. Now such panels as SunPower‘s are regularly achieving 22%. That means more bang for buck and more energy produced for every square inch of panel installed.
4. Thin Film Efficiency is Better Too
Solar film is levelling the field on efficiency. Thin film traditionally had efficiencies in the 10% area, roughly half the efficiency of crystalline panels. While that measured quantity has trended up slightly, industry professionals are finding that actual production is higher. This is because the film produces better in diffuse light and partially shaded conditions than panels. In one project in Israel, installers recently found that the thin film solar only required 25% more surface area compared to crystalline panels to produce the same energy. This means that actual efficiency is probably closer to 15% for film.
5. Utility Scale Solar is Blossoming
Utility scale solar is PV power for the masses, brought to you through your traditional power lines. Usually the power plants are located in desert areas with ample sunshine. They often use a technology called concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) that uses mirrors, tracking devices, and advanced solar panel technology to squeeze (almost) every drop of energy from sunlight. Due to new federal rules on depreciation, generous tax credits, and technological advances, utilities and investors can install these systems profitably. In the next 5-10 years we will probably see the record for largest CPV installation broken several times over. Projects in Colorado, California, and Arizona are already under way and will vie for the nation’s largest when complete.
6. Power Is Getting More Expensive
While this isn’t necessarily good news, it’s certainly overdue. Until we wrap the true environmental cost of producing carbon into the cost of electricity, our environmental picture will not improve. Whether we do that through cap and trade, a carbon tax, or another way, it means that power is going to cost more in the short term. This increased cost will encourage energy efficiency and drive improvement in the production, transportation, and storage of electricity. It will also make solar power look more attractive.
7. Research Will Only Fuel the Revolution
Speaking of innovation, research and development will change the industry in ways we’re not even aware of yet. Our wonderful university research programs are driving tremendous changes in the industry. Energy has become a focus of federal and industry dollars, much the way telecommunications and information technology was in the last decade. College programs now emphasize energy efficiency in all aspects of design and engineering, and integrating solar in buildings, vehicles, and even clothing have become the norm. It seems like every week we hear about a breakthrough in solar panels, thin film solar, and battery technology in our university research programs
8. Massive Investment Will Incubate the Next Energy Stars
One sure sign of change to come is when Silicon Valley venture capital gets involved. These funds are only interested in investing in sectors that are rapidly growing and can make gobs of money in a short time. So when you hear they are investing billions of dollars in photovoltaic technology, and a new deal seems to be coming every week, you can bet there are big things on the horizon. These prognosticators may not be right all the time, but you can bet they don’t throw their money away at weak prospects. The same guys who made huge bets on Google, Yahoo, and Netscape are now putting their chips on the energy sector, and specifically solar power.
Kriss Bergethon is a writer and solar expert. He and his wife live off the grid in Colorado. For more information visit his site at Solar Kits.
Photo Credit: Qureshi Report, OffTheGrid, carbonpressure & Sustainablog
Posted on June 16th in Solar Research by Guest Author.
June 16th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I completely agree that the cost of conventional power doesn’t begin to cover its true environmental costs. (Government subsidies for coal definitely don’t help, either.) I would love to see the government end its support for conventional power production while throwing the extra money behind renewable energy and incentives for consumers — then we’d really see change!
June 16th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
You’re absolutely right, Jennifer. We need government to really step up and provide those same subsidies and TRULY make it an even playing field for all forms of energy. Unfortunately ‘conventional’ energy is already paying for lobbyists so much that it makes it difficult for any politician to leave that money on the table. Just wish it wasn’t so…
June 17th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
The “true environmental cost” fails to account for the opposite condition – lack of cheap and plentiful fuel. Without fuel, modern civilization would not have supplanted the need for human and animal slave labor.
Subsidies and government intervention will not resolve the problem. More likely, it will make it worse. Partisan politicians are NOT problem solvers – see the 1970′s oil embargo and their ‘enlightened’ response.
Frankly, efficiency and conservation are far superior to escalating consumption of fuel – from whatever source.
In the near term, our civilization will not only have to find fuel replacements, but transition to less power consuming modes of living.
To illustrate:
Shelter => Construct superinsulated dwellings, that utilize passive climate controls (ex: seasonal shade via plants). Utilize materials that are disaster resistant to fire, water, wind, earthquake, vermin, mold, and mildew (ex: concrete sandwich wall, fiber reinforced cement, space frame).
Transportation => Construct / rebuild electric traction rail mass transit (i.e., trolleys, streetcars, funiculars, trams, interurbans, etc.). Engineer navigable waterways. Develop compound gyrocopter / gyroplane airliners for city center to city center high speed transportation (ex: Fairey Rotodyne, Carter copter).
Food production => Local, high production, labor intensive farming.
Manufacturing => Decentralized distributed production of necessities – microfactories.
Urban Design => High population density development, in parallel with rail based mass transit corridors.
Rural Development => Consolidation of suburban sprawl into more compact villages, with reclamation of arable land.
June 18th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Kris, the are more solutions than just solar. Enclosed is one of my recent articles on another source of incredible enrgy: Biomass. It doesn’t get as much press, but is being used a lot more than solar at this point. You also touch on the lobbyists, but the story doesn’t really go there because the lobbyists are just trying to sell something to somebody. The real perpetrator there is the Senator that spends $40,000,000 to get elected for a six-year term totalling 2190 days. The only way that can happen is to raise $16,000 per day in office, Saturdays, Sundays, and federal holidays included. I digress.
What this atricle is about is easy. If I told you that Denver could burn it’s garbage, thereby producing 58,000,000 gallons of ethanol a year, with a 4 year ROI after which the cty would make 40 million dollars a year for burning it, would that be something you could wrap your head around ? Read ON!
We the people cannot afford to keep relying on oil, mostly foreign, to power our country. The oil spill in the Gulf demonstrates how much we are at a point that we have to become active in pushing for Renewable and Alternative Energy sources.
Biomass is one of those sources. Biomass comes in many forms such as trees, plants and garbabe. By burning biomass, we can capture ethanol, which can be mixed with gasoline as fuel for cars and trucks, reducing the amount of gasoline that we cunsume.
There are almost 200 cities in the US with populations of a quarter of a million or more. Every one of them has a landfill full of garbage. That means that ¾ of our total garbage is in about 200 spots. Estimates say there are about a million tons of garbage in each spot, or 200 million tons of garbage in landfills, landfills that are always a problem for the cities where they are located.
If you burn the garbage (BIOMASS) you can get 50 gallons of ethanol per ton. This is called Waste-To-Ethanol. That means, if you set up to burn garbage and capture the ethanol, you could generate 10 Billion gallons of ethanol from the existing supply. You can put up a plant to do this burning for around $320 million dollars and that would get you about 3200 tons of garbage (biomass) burned every day resulting in 58,000,000 gallons of ethanol every year, per plant.
That would be a ROI of 4 years in today’s market. If oil goes up when BP tries to recover their expenses, it will take less time. The ethanol production in this method should run about $1.00 per gallon, which is a whole lot less than gasoline, so there would be an additional savings to the consumer.
If the cities were to float a municipal bond issue for the cost and built their own biomass refinery, then after the ROI, they could realistically be looking at eliminating over 40 million dollars a year from their budget shortfall. As consumers, we generate about five pound of biomass (garbage) a week, so the plants would never run out of product to burn.
What can you do? Go to a City Council meeting with this idea. Can you imagine your City Council turning down $40,000,000 a year for burning the garbage? Have them contact BlueFire Ethanol or Agresti Biofuels, or the Department of Energy. Prod them. Get this started. It’s our planet, we the people.
July 18th, 2010 at 7:06 am
South Western U.S.A. is Solar rich, but Alaska for example is not! Solar, Wind, Wave, Hydro, Tidal, Geothermal, and Nuclear fuels – all translatable to electric energies not liquid energies will have to replace the energy loss as oil dwindles and prices itself off the American market. First the hybrid cars, like the Volt, then on to fully rechargeable cars and shorter hauls in them, with long hauls by nuclear/electric sourced electric bullet train networks that will supplant even oil intensive domestic jet flights, this is the future for America. The interim years will be cushioned by biomass fuels , bio-diesel, natural gas, and such but the larger burden as oil dwindles will be on Mother Natures perpetual energy sources and Nuclear.The world has been raped of its resources such as oil for a long time and we are really running lower and lower each day! America will have to face the fact that the “Cheap Oil Era” the era she depends so deeply on, is running to its end, and it is time to move on, much as China has, with her complete, up and running, Nuclear/electric sourced, electric bullet train network and ensuing infrastructure – now up and producing, on veggies and rice, products for the American marketplace.
October 13th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
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