Top 10 Reasons Why Solar Energy Will Win

Greentechsolar has an interesting article 28 Sep 2011 on Top 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins. in which is a top 10 list for solar. Here are some excerpts:

10. A job is a job is a job.
    With all this talk about green jobs, clean jobs, and other kinds of jobs -- how about we just call it a job? A job that puts food on the table, pays the bills, keeps the kids in clothes, and affords the occasional family night out. And, if you subscribe to the belief that all is lost due to the Chinese PV manufacturing juggernaut, keep in mind that you can’t export the thousands of business development, sales, design, engineering, installation, and service jobs we’re going to need every year.

Why not just say jobs, jobs, jobs? Because solar also doesn't pollute the air and doesn't suck up ground water. Not just jobs: clean jobs that don't drain our resources.

But opinion only matters if the data supports it. Solar is one of the only industries adding private sector jobs in our struggling economy -- with 6.8 percent growth from August 2010 to August 2011, when overall U.S. job growth was only 0.7 percent and when fossil fuel generators actually cut jobs by 2 percent. It’s estimated the United States already has over 90,000 direct and indirect jobs in the manufacturing and installation of solar panels. That’s more than in either steel production or coal mining (not including transportation and power plant employment).

Yes, while road and bridge building projects may bring in a few temporary construction jobs, solar brings construction jobs plus all sorts of other jobs plus long-term jobs. Long-term jobs in the fastest-growing industry in the world:

9. Fastest growing sector of the economy. Growth is a good for everyone.
   U.S. solar photovoltaic installation increased by an impressive average annual rate of 64 percent between 2005 and 2010, with over 70 percent of the value of solar products and installations produced here at home. Solar is already up and delivering in 21 states, representing two-thirds of America's population.

People around here seem to be having trouble getting this point: Fastest Growing Sector of the Economy. What else do you see with a 64% annual growth rate right through the recession?

8. The voters are ahead of the politicians and the media.
   Despite what you hear from political ideologues and read about in the news, Americans want more homegrown, renewable, clean energy. They want it not only because it will make the air they breathe cleaner, but because they know that competition for their money is a good thing and that economic growth will come with the continued growth of a homegrown industry. Americans are also tired of borrowing money from China to pay for energy we import from many countries that are not our friends.

In North Carolina, which has been more organized about solar for a while now, 91% of the voters want more solar. What else do you see 91% of the voters anywhere agreeing on?

7. It is about prices.
   Solar energy is already affordable in many states and cities. A new report by Lawrence Berkeley Labs (LBL) shows how rapidly solar prices are falling. In its analysis, LBL shows that the average cost of installed solar photovoltaic was $6.20/watt for systems installed in 2010, falling 17 percent from 2009 and 43 percent below 1998. Prices fell an additional 11 percent from 2010 to the first half of 2011. Since 2008, panel prices alone have declined 61 percent, with 30 percent of this reduction happening this year. Large commercial rooftops systems are now being installed for less than $3 per watt DC -- approaching the SunShot goals set by DOE only this year.

   So in case you’ve missed it, “solar past does not equal solar present.” Solar is rapidly reaching the point where it competes with traditional energy on price -- even without the kind of taxpayer subsidies that coal and natural gas have received for decades.

It's called Moore's Law, which means price drops by half over a more or less fixed period of time. This is the same law that now has a computer in your pocket (your smartphone) that is far more powerful than computers that filled a room a few decades ago, and more powerful than desktop machines of only a few years ago. The price drop for solar isn't quite that fast, but it appears that GE's prediction of solar becoming cheaper than fossil fuels or nuclear in three to five years may turn out to be pessimistic.

6. Follow the (private) money.
   Even in a struggling economy, the clean energy industry drew a record $7.8 billion in venture capital worldwide in 2010, a 28 percent increase compared to 2009. Seventy percent of that world total was invested right here in North America. Solar alone received more than 30 percent of U.S. clean tech venture capital in the first quarter of 2011, indicating a maturing industry that is expected to continue growing.

Local dogmatists complaining about grant money are almost irrelevant, because most of the real money for solar is coming from private sources. Private sources in it for the profit.

And that's only reasons 10 through 6!

-jsq