Who says solar is expensive?

DIY solar

Posted by Adam Browning (Guest Contributor) at 11:32 AM on 19 Jul 2007

Read more about: solar voltaic power | energy | renewable energy | energy at home

DIY Solar. Love it. Just don't let your homeowner's association see it.

In other news, at the American Solar Energy Society conference in Cleveland last week, First Solar -- the same First Solar that recently announced the sale of $1.28 billion worth of modules -- gave a presentation in which they announced that based on current cost curves, they will be selling around $1.25/W in the 2010-2012 time frame.

That, friends, is cheap solar. If the industry can continue to bring down installation costs commensurately -- and that is done by developing local solar programs, creating local solar markets, and investing in local solar installers -- then solar will be at grid parity in a lot of locales.

For story: Who says solar is expensive?
7 Comments | Post a Comment

How about

How about $0.10/Watt?

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/18/new-solar-cell-te ...

by GreyFlcn at 11:53 AM on 19 Jul 2007

the high cost of solar

How about, potentially, reducing the cost of solar by a factor of five?

Check out: Tempronics

Pearl Street::Jason and Kristina Makansi Read Lights Out reviews

by Kristina & Jason Makansi at 1:03 PM on 19 Jul 2007

So What the Hell are You Waiting For?

Hey, all:

Yeah, and ego-phones might be down to $49.95 in the same time. Do you practice what you preach? Are you leading or is this just talk? Is it easier to buy offsets to cover your laziness or do you back up your words? At $4-5 now for PV (50% more for professional installation) it is not cheap now. If you live in a state which has incentives a great deal can be paid for with that.

I bought mine (and the Wind system) in a period 5-8 years ago, and it wasn't cheap then, but I have 98% eliminated my Carbon for electricity and water heat, and my electricity bill.

If you can see past your nose, you may see the cost effectiveness of doing it now. Have you heard the expression "Lead, follow, or get out of the way? How about "Be the change you wish to see in the world."? What about "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."? Or are you waiting for someone else to do it?

Maybe it would be better if the thread were entitled "THE UNTENABLY HIGH COST OF CARBON". Would that make a difference?

David
Sustainability For Life

Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

by SustainableGreen at 2:18 PM on 19 Jul 2007

Well

Not everyone owns their own personal cow.
Doesn't mean people don't drink milk.

by GreyFlcn at 10:21 PM on 19 Jul 2007
[ Parent ]

Candidate for Vacuous Comment

Hey, all:

Not everyone owns their own personal cow.
Doesn't mean people don't drink milk.

This has to be among the dumbest comments in a long time--a vapid, vacuous statement in defense of vacuousness. This is a comment on an activist site promoting doing nothing.

If we are to be considered "green" we need to promote "green". This means practicing what we preach, to the greatest possible extent. Lead by example. "Be the change...."

Unless you are a shill for coal, oil, agro-fuels, nukes, or other wasteful unsustainable commodity, focusing only on greed, you should support sustainability. If you are a shill, you really should go elsewhere. If you are a shill, you really should consider trying to make up smarter comments.

David
Sustainability For Life

Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

by SustainableGreen at 7:38 AM on 20 Jul 2007

David,

Chill. He was saying that few people need to own and maintain their own power generation plants.

Most of us will get our power from others who provide power using the economy of scale, as is done with our community water supplies and waste disposal. Home power systems, wells and septic tanks are necessar evils in rural settings, but for urban dwellers, not so much. New York city is the greenest place to live in America.

A homeowner in Seattle who wants to replace their electric power with solar on their roof will have to pay an installer about $150,000. I think it's great that you have put together your own system out in the boonies, but that is not an example many will be emulating. Urbanization provides the potential for communal heating, and mass transit, not urban sprawl where you are forced to drive eveywhere for everything.

So, if we a going to vote on the most vaccuous comments, your's gets mine.

Adam,

I helped build a similar solar collector about thirty years ago as an engineering student in a heat and mass transfer class. We used aluminum wool spray painted black (to maximize surface area) and glass for the cover. The idea was to use this design to dry grain (a big deal in the Purdue school of agriculture).

If this guy had stored the heat in his garage concrete slab he could work in it in the evenings when the sun don't shine.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 9:35 AM on 20 Jul 2007

Aside to BioD: When You Stop Spamming...

Hey, all:

BioD: When you stop spamming for your book, then maybe your advice and interpretation will have come credit and weight. For someone who is so tone deaf as to not understand the value of rural communities, it appears you are rather vacuous yourself. Oh, and that is "vacuous", not "vaccuous". And you better look up "vacuous", before you attempt to use the term in your retorts. You are better in the field than when on paper.

Engineers on an activist site suggesting and defending doing less than we should sounds like someone who has an agenda of protecting turf and preventing progress, driven by greed.

David
Sustainability For Life

Messages done with sustainable energy, with Wind and Sun!

by SustainableGreen at 10:20 AM on 20 Jul 2007

ADVERTISING POLICY

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