Are we on the cusp of a solar energy boom?

[Addison]

The total solar energy hitting Earth each year is equivalent to 12.2 trillion watt-hours. That's over 20,000 times more than the total energy all of humanity consumes each year.

And yet photovoltaic solar panels, the instruments that convert solar radiation into electricity, produce only 0.7 percent of the energy the world uses.

So what gives?

For one, cost: The U.S. Department of Energy estimates an average cost of $156.90 per megawatt-hour for solar, while conventional coal costs an average of $99.60 per MW/h, nuclear costs an average of $112.70 per MW/h, and various forms of natural gas cost between $65.50 and $132 per MW/h. So from an economic standpoint, solar is still uncompetitive.

And from a technical standpoint, solar is still tough to store. "A major conundrum with solar panels has always been how to keep the lights on when the sun isn't shining," says Christoph Steitz and Stephen Jewkes at Reuters.

But thanks to huge advances, solar's cost and technology problems are increasingly closer to being solved.

The percentage of light turned into electricity by a photovoltaic cell has increased from 8 percent in the first Cadmium-Telluride cells in the mid-1970s to up to 44 percent in the most efficient cells today, with some new designs theoretically having up to 51 percent efficiency. That means you get a lot more bang for your buck. And manufacturing costs have plunged as more companies have entered the market, particularly in China. Prices have fallen from around $4 per watt in 2008 to just $0.75 per watt last year to just $0.58 per watt today.

If the trend stays on track for another eight to 10 years, solar generated electricity in the U.S. will descend to a level of $120 per MW/h — competitive with coal and nuclear — by 2020, or even 2015 for the sunniest parts of America. If prices continue to fall over the next 20 years, solar costs will be half that of coal (and have the added benefits of zero carbon emissions, zero mining costs, and zero scarcity).

Scientists have made huge advances in thermal storage as well, finding vastly more efficient ways to store solar energy. (In one example, solar energy is captured and then stored in beds of packed rocks.)

. . .

http://theweek.com/article/index/244437/are-we-on-the-cusp-of-a-solar-energy-boom

[Gregorian]

1. I doubt those energy costs for fossil fuel include the extras that result from burning fuel.

This is the shortsightedness of the carbon democracy. Burn, burn, burn as if there were no tomorrow.

Solar is already cheaper if one looks at it from a complete birth to death cycle.

[MrMickeysMom]

2. After my sister and her husband put a system in...

... (2 years ago) which consists of solar panels for photovoltaic energy, and a solar water heater system and a solar pool water heater, their bill this month was $50.00. This is a house of 1,700 sq ft. They felt that even though in their lifetime they wouldn't recoup the full cost of putting it in (they are 65 and 66 years old), the savings they create would sustain to future owners. They did it mostly because it would reduce their footprint in the scheme of things.

Living in FL and installing solar panels in private homes as well as on the flat roofs of schools and municipal bldgs all over the "sunshine state" seemed to them a "NO BRAINER. Instead of taking the $3 odd dollars every month contained in electric bill for the construction of future nuclear power plants in the planning over several years, it seems much smarter to them that money both accumulated and monthly income put toward the development of solar panels create daily renewal energy.

Instead of the funding and risk for nuclear power plants, what better jobs would there be than to create solar panels all over the country?

[Addison]

3. Solar panels are popping up all over my neighborhood

Even homes that haven't seen a fresh coat of paint in twenty years are getting the panels because they save money.

[oldhippie]

4. Where are you?

I keep looking for them around here (Central Texas) and there just aren't any (except mine.)

I have been a PV advocate for decades. Even do a little consulting in the business, but I can't believe the resistance I run into when talking to homeowners and real estate agents. And it's never about the costs, because I can usually show them a positive rate of return by almost any criteria. The objection is usually "they're ugly", "it's a pain in the ass to deal with", "I won't recover the costs when I sell", and "it will make the roof leak."

Granted, we don't have the super state incentives like California and some other states, but still ...

[Addison]

5. Hey OldHippie

I'm an OldishHippie in Southern California. I guess the rebates here probably help PV make more economic sense. Most of the neighbors I see getting them lately haven't spent a dime to upgrade their homes in years, and couldn't care less about global warming, so that tells me they're only putting them up for the electric bill savings.

Sorry to hear about all the objections you're hearing in Texas. Maybe there's an unspoken fear of being thought of as a tree-hugger that's making them cut off their nose to spite their face.