Solar Power

To get rolling, here is a CNBC interview of me talking about why, very generally, solar power is so important, and also talking about its potential to help the world today. Next is a video about how much the cost of solar has dropped in recent years and what that means, followed by an “About Solar / Why Solar” video that gets into the specifics of the energy and solar energy markets a bit more.

The sections below cover:

1. Solar Power’s Abundance
2. Falling Solar Power Costs
3. Solar Energy Industry Growth
4. Largest Solar Power Projects

If you’re looking for specific information on solar power technology, that’s not included here, but I’d recommend these resources for more on that:

1. How Do Solar Panels, Solar Cells and Solar Energy Work?
2. Solar Thermal Panels, Practical but Not Yet Popular – A Solar Overview
3. Most Efficient Solar Panels — Which Ones?
4. The Solar Power Wikipedia page

Solar Power Abundance!

“Comparing finite and renewable planetary energy reserves (Terawatt‐years). Total recoverable reserves are shown for the finite resources. Yearly potential is shown for the renewables.” (source: Perez & Perez, 2009a)

No other energy source compares to the energy potential of sunshine. Looking at the image above, make sure to note that circles for Coal, Uranium, Petroleum, and Natural Gas are TOTAL recoverable reserves, whereas the renewable energy circles (including the giant yellow solar energy one) are for energy potential per year.

The bottom line: Solar energy is the most abundant energy source on the planet, by far.

For a micro-scale example, the solar energy hitting the state of Texas each month is equal to the total amount of energy the Texas oil and gas industry has ever produced.

Solar Power Costs

Now, a lot of politicians and people connected to or confused by the fossil fuel industry like to contend that solar power is expensive. Well, to put the matter bluntly: No, it’s not.

Technology improvements and policies to promote research, development, and installation of solar have resulted in tremendous drops in the cost of solar power over the past several years. Even without taking important health and safety costs (note that a Harvard study concluded in 2011 that the health costs of coal are $500 billion a year in the U.S.), environmental costs, energy security costs, and other social costs into account, solar is already cost-competitive with new electricity from conventional energy options like coal and nuclear energy (if you take into account how long it would take coal or nuclear plants to get built) — see the graphs below.

Note that the 2012 solar LCOE of 14 cents/kWh is already way out of date, with solar hitting 4–9 cents/kWh in the Middle East, USA, Brazil, and elsewhere.

Note that the 2012 solar LCOE of 14 cents/kWh is already way out of date, with solar hitting 4–9 cents/kWh in the Middle East, USA, Brazil, and elsewhere.

That’s just an appetizer, of course. For more along these lines, here are a few more stories on solar power costs:

1. True Value of Solar Power
2. Cost of Solar Power Competitive with Coal in Some Places, & Dropping Fast
3. Solar Power Graphs to Make You Smile
4. Historic Report: Solar Energy Costs Now Lower than Nuclear Energy
5. Another Low-Solar-Price Record: Saudi Electric Company Lands Solar PPA Under 5¢/kWh

Solar Power Industry Growth

Dropping costs, as well as concerns like global warming and air pollution, have triggered massive growth in the solar energy industry. I’m going to focus on U.S. solar energy industry growth here, but the trends are similar globally and in other major economies, like China, Germany, the UK, Spain, and many other countries.

One of my favorite solar graphs is this one, which is on the exponential solar power growth we’ve seen in recent years:

Here’s another one that goes through 2014 and shows the annual growth trend:

Some more key facts for you:

1. The U.S. solar energy industry now employs ~175,000 people (more than the coal or steel industry).
2. The U.S. solar energy industry has been the fastest-growing industry in the U.S. in recent years. (It has been creating jobs 10 times faster than the U.S. economy as a whole).
3. Over 5,000 businesses (mostly small businesses) support the solar industry in the U.S., creating jobs for Americans in every state.
4. 9 out of 10 Americans think we should be developing and using more solar power.