Why We Need More than Rooftops to Win the War Against Climate Change

September 29th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

Many environmentalists claim that we don’t need utility scale solar in our deserts because we could simply solar power America from our rooftops. Technically, this is true. Most houses do have the space for it. However, that fact alone is not enough. As someone who asks people if they would like to get (free) solar on their roof, for a living, I have disappointing news. A surprising number wouldn’t.

I would suggest that anyone who thinks that we can simply put solar on every roof, pick a block in any neighborhood, walk to each house and ask for yourselves.

Here’s what you’ll find:

Only six will have perfect solar roofs: but two of them will have been led to believe that solar power is a socialist plot; two will be renters who only wished they could go solar; and two will be too rich to bother about saving money or the environment. Two would love it, but their spouse won’t allow anything on the roof.

Four will indeed wish they could go solar, but have trees shading the roof, or have a mishmash of gables facing the wrong way (there must be some rule that if you love renewable energy and really want to do something about climate change, your roof will be just all wrong for solar!)

Three more will really just be unable to conceive of making their own electricity from solar. One can’t imagine how solar could be free, but is willing to take a look at it, but really wants to get back to watching American Idol.

One would love to do it but needs to fix the roof first and lacks the money for roof repair. One will be too old to contemplate any change. Only one will say: absolutely, let’s do it – that’s a really terrific idea!

And this is for free solar, because I’m telling them about a solar PPA: it competes with the utility with a lower price per kilowatt hour, so the cost issue has been resolved. This is how I learned that no matter how brilliant the solution to the impediments to solar adoption the free market alone will never put solar on every roof, the way that it put TV cable antennas on every roof.

This is why I support Feed in Tariffs and REC sales, so that people could actually earn cash from their solar roofs, as I think that could tip the scales more. And it’s why I support utility-scale solar. As individual consumers, we are all too fallible to be relied on to solve something as serious as climate change.

Or, here’s an idea. The government should use its wartime powers. It could simply requisition this energy resource beating down on all our roofs… almost as if we were in a war against climate change.

Susan Kraemer@Twitter
Image: Desert Vu

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Tags: cheap solar roof, consumer behaviour, free solar panels, market failure, PPA, solar residential PPA, utility-scale solar

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

http://electric-vehicles-cars-bikes.blogspot.com/ Paul

Welcome to the world of cold calling. Going door to door isn’t the easiest way to make a living, that’s why they invented advertising! LOL
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  Actually, we live in a post-advertising world. Unlike the ’50s when everyone tuned in to the same 3 networks, and got the same news and the same ads, now people use adblockers on the Internet and don’t bother with TV or newspapers and so many live in a no ads world, – so this concept of a solar PPA is completely new to most people.
brublr

Here’s some very good news on that front.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100928092841.htm

A total game changer:
“Ultra-thin solar cells can absorb sunlight more efficiently than the thicker, more expensive-to-make silicon cells used today, because light behaves differently at scales around a nanometer (a billionth of a meter), say Stanford engineers. They calculate that by properly configuring the thicknesses of several thin layers of films, an organic polymer thin film could absorb as much as 10 times more energy from sunlight than was thought possible.”
Charles

I’d like to see a total committment to rely on solar energy source (wind included) but most of us non-engineers overestimate how much power from given size of installation can provide.

“Wall-to-wall” wind turbines and solar panels are not going to appeal to most, which would be required if we are to maintain our life style, including largely wasteful energy use.

Our economic wellness in the West has been made possible by consumption based economy. Products fabrication using enrgy obtained by oxidizing ready to pick “low hanging fruit” of nature provided carbon compounds energy in the form of forest woods, coal, crude oil, natural gas.

One thing is important to remember; we’ve been living in a world of unrealistic expectation regarding economic prosperity. I think that we’re facing a future of more modest expectations, and that I can easily accept.
Ormond Otvos

Depressingly true. I also try to encourage free solar, and the list of excuses is endless. Not reasons, excuses.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  Hey, Ormond! That is a big life change for you, then?
alex

I was just at an energy conference this weekend. One of the things they mentioned is that we’ll never be able to replace our current energy use with renewables or solar if we don’t find ways to cut our (wasteful) usage. they gave the lightbeam coming out of luxor casino as an example since the beam alone would power 2500 homes.
Also mentioned was that you don’t need to put solar panels on every individual home since not everyone has an ideal solar location. a better way would be a community installation at a more solar friendly central location like the rooftop of a school, and it would feed power to everyone at reduced utility rates while also being cleanly powered. the only problem is it takes actual WORK and PLANNING. unfortunately most people are lazy or just don’t care so nothing will ever get done.
TBH i think that is the main problem with the energy question is that every individual/organization/government is looking to someone else to solve it, when the answer lies with each and every one of us and our ways of life. no one is willing to change for the greater good.
NO BAMA IS GOOD BAMA

Just another stupid HATE the BAD EVIL REPUBLICAN NAZI FASCIST RACIST BIGOTED GLENN BECK propaganda from a left wing crack pot fan of king OUMGABONGA and RACHEL MADCOW
And yes I would gladly put a solar roof on my home as soon as I can make it work.