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Something to get your feet moving solar power style. We are electric!
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A brief layout of his solar system that he installed about 2 weeks ago.
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We love a Solar Power House on this blog. However, the fact remains that the future of Solar Power Homes lie in utility scale mega solar power plants rather than a few solar panels scattered across the roof-top of individual homes. They have their place, but for now roof-top solar panels are simply too expensive and not necessarily greener than traditional electricity sources. In fact by many estimates, it takes more energy to produce a solar panel than what the panel will produce over its entire life-time. More on this in a blog-post to-come. Utility scale solar power plants (and that too the ones which use solar thermal technology, not photovoltaic or more commonly referred to as solar panels) are the only ones, which come close to providing electricity reliably to 1000s of homes at reasonable prices. So when I heard that the delays in passing President Obama’s economic stimulus package through Congress is impacting some solar power plant operators, my ears perked up. Solar power companies, like other industrial companies, are capital intensive in nature. They need large amount of upfront investments to get going. In traditional times these companies typically raise money by either borrowing (Bonds, other debts) or raising cash in stock markets. However, with the massive credit crunch and underperforming equity markets, neither of those is a viable option. Credit and cash, the lifeblood of a viable economy has dried up. In these times, their only source of help is government aid. For example, BrightSource Energy Inc. has signed contracts with California utility PG&E to provide 900 MW of solar thermal power. However, it still hasn’t secured financing for the project which is scheduled to start power delivery by end 2011. According to an interview of the CEO, John Woolard as reported in this Reuters article… “We should be able to turn dirt over and start construction in the fourth quarter of this year, but big financings don’t come in months,” Chief Executive John Woolard said in an interview at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Depending on what happens out of the stimulus bill, it could get pushed back.” “If you were to wait for private markets to come back completely, you’d be waiting a long time. But if you look at what you can do with the right amount of government support, you could see things happen this year,” he said, calling the stimulus package “one of the most important pieces of legislation in renewables, period.” Let’s hope, that Barack Obama who has run his campaign on a platform of Hope, backs up hope with some real $ for the solar power sector.
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The last few months, the internet has been buzzing with rumors of Toyota fielding its next Prius at least partly if not fully powered by Solar. Sorry to burst the bubble, but CNN just announced that is not the case at all. The third generation Toyota Prius, coming this spring to a showroom near you, does have an optional solar panel on its roof. But it doesn’t power anything useful. Not the power train, not the lights, not the air conditioning, heck not even lowly iPod/CD player/radio. You know what it does? Ahem, it powers a ventilation fan that will cool your car parked in the sun on hot sunny days. You can turn it on by key remote prior to entering it, so that the seats don’t burn you and the AC cools the car faster than without this ventilation fan. Hmmmmmm. And for this privilege I am guesstimating that you will be paying anywhere between $3-5,000 at least. And let’s not even talk about the added pollution contributed to the earth with the manufacturing of these useless car roof-top solar panels. (Yes it takes factories and electricity and waste products to manufacture solar panels. They are not dropped on earth by storks singing green lullabies Bottom line benefit for wearing your latest credential: None. On the contrary, it’s going to cost you a lot to be green cool I love solar power, be it solar power cars or Solar Power Homes. But it sure is honest to take a good look at the economics now and then. Image Courtesy: http://www.solarelectricalvehicles.com/ |
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