The Truth About Solar (VIDEO)
Bloomberg TV has published a new video on various solar energy facts. Quite good. Though, I think it’s a little fast for most people to get the numbers (but maybe I’m wrong) and the “maximum lifespan” figure for solar photovoltaic cells is certainly off. We’ve already got solar panels in the field well over 30 years old that are operating to factory specs. We don’t really have a definitive sense yet for “normal lifespan” for in-the-field solar cells that are being produced and sold today, of course, but the maximum lifespan is certainly well over 30 years. (Correct me if I’m missing some important caveat here.)
Also, if I were to create the video, I’d of course point out the tremendous amount of money that many people can save going solar, solar’s awesome return on investment, how much cheaper it is than new coal or new nuclear, and more on solar power’s tremendous potential.
Otherwise, though, it’s quite a good video pointing out how much has changed in the solar industry within the past few years… and how much potential there is for the future. Check it out below the screenshot, for which I’d give Michael Graham Richard of TreeHugger a big hat tip:
Here’s the full video:
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I did not get anything out of it because the numbers did not have much context to them. It was more flash and little substance. If they say the prices dropped by 75% I want to know what the prices were and are now. (So I can verify they got their math right.) If they say less that a 1/4 of a percent of power is solar in America I want them to say how much, when, and provide a reference. All-in-all meh…
germany 24 gigawatt, that was a year ago. it is above 32 now
Approx. 35 GW right now to be as current as possible. 🙂
Thanks, Thomas. Love when you jump in here with “up-to-the-minute” solar facts. 😀
The growth of solar PV is mind boggling!
I just read this:”
A lot happens in America every four minutes. During that short time period, 30 babies are born, 4,080 McDonald’s Big Macs are consumed, and 48,000 tons of CO2 are emitted.
And as it turns out, the U.S. is now installing one solar photovoltaic (PV) system every four minutes as well. If market growth continues at its current pace, the American solar industry could be installing a system every minute and twenty seconds by 2016.
That’s a dramatic difference from 2006, when installers were only putting up one system every 80 minutes. Shayle Kann, vice president of GTM Research, documents the accelerating speed of solar deployment in the chart below:”
http://theenergycollective.com/stephenlacey/262466/solar-system-installed-us-every-4-minutes#comment-80981
Ahem… Go Germany!