I have a simple question on energy and perhaps this not the place for it, first let me preface this by saying I'm one of those " all in" energy types" which means lets produce it all. That said, my question is on energy production , it would seem to me that if the goal is to produce more energy and do it in a manner that is environmentally friendly and promote jobs, the best place to start would be with putting solar panels on the roofs of everyones house as means to let , the "people" become their own energy producers. Maybe perhaps doing something like this might put some poor lobby group out of work on K Street? heaven forbid!! We sure do spend an awful lot of time regulating things that could be made cheaper to keep Washington employed.
Do you have any idea how expensive that would be? The problem with solar energy is that it's
not cheap. It's
ridiculously expensive. If it was cheaper than energy generated through fossil fuels everyone would be using it.
Think of hybrid cars. Yeah you save money on gas, but the cars itself, replacing the batteries, etc is so expensive that at the end of the day it costs more than a standard gas guzzler. Same concept with solar. And of course, how would that benefit people like me in Salem, Oregon where from October through March we get two...maybe three days of sun a month?
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory yesterday released the latest figures in a multiyear study of price trends for solar photovoltaic equipment and installation. Overall, the study, commissioned by the Department of Energy and the Clean Energy States Alliances, paints a picture of a maturing industry and falling product prices.
From 2009 to 2010, the price of a residential solar electric system fell 17 percent to $6.20 per watt, or a $1.30 decline. Measured from 1998, the installed costs fell 43 percent. The data is garnered from more than 100,000 installations of commercial and grid-tied residential solar panels, which are usually under 10 kilowatts in capacity. The costs don't include a 30 percent federal tax rebate and state incentives.
Rooftop solar prices fall 'precipitously' | Green Tech - CNET News
Gov. John Kitzhaber visits Klamath Falls today to cut the ribbon on Oregon's largest-ever solar energy project, a constellation of more than 20,000 photovoltaic panels spread over 27 acres on three Oregon University System campuses.
Compared to California, where solar developers are looking to build arrays covering 1,000 acres, the OUS installation is fairly run of the mill. But by Oregon standards, the $25 million project is huge. Apart from one mega-project being installed in Yamhill County, it dwarfs any other solar array in the state.
The Oregon Institute of Technology campus alone will be home to more than 10,000 panels spread over a barren hillside the size of 12 football fields.
At peak output, the panels will be capable of supplying 35 percent of OIT's electricity needs, carbon-free, at prices comparable to what the university's are paying for power today.
Oregon's largest solar project marks end of business tax credit era | OregonLive.com
Like any technology that is advancing, the more it is used and the more people produce it and use it then the cheaper it will become. I would rather imagine that if the same attitude was taken towards the first cell phone based on cost, then we would all still be speaking to one another on land lines and there would be no such thing as an iPhone and the same can be said for the PC, and any number of technologies that as they age and become more a part of daily life the cheaper they become. As for Hybrid vs. Gas. of course it is much cheaper to operate a hybrid than it is to operate a Gas vehicle, however from a cost standpoint, batteries are much more expensive to replace in the hybrid. One thing to consider here though, that as overall mpgs rise based on the number of these hybrids on the road that means less and less of our money going overseas to finance nations that do not like is so much. Each time you pull up into that Citgo station think fondly of Hugo Chavez or perhaps the number of organizations that are not so friendly to this nation that gas money we fill our guzzlers with goes too. Yes it's true that these technologies are not as cheap as conventional energy sources, however if more time were spent on finding ways to make these technologies cheaper so that we are less dependant on foreign sources of energy then perhaps its a win win for everyone.