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On the first day of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), or Paris Climate Conference, Bill Gates unveiled the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.

This coalition is a group of 28 high net worth private investors who pledge to contribute funds to support the advancement of clean tech innovations. While Gates has said that he plans on investing $1 billion of his personal fortune, the others have not yet given specific numbers. A few of the other business leaders in this coalition include Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Mission Innovation is the governmental counterpart to Gates’ organization. This is a pact of 20 major governments who pledge to double their investments in clean energy by 2020. This would see the U.S. spending $10 billion over the next five years. In total, this would amount to over $20 billion in new clean tech spending.

Gates has the numbers to back up any potential criticisms of his plan. For example, he has pointed out that the U.S Department of Energy invested $17.5 billion between 1978 and 2000 on research and benefited $41 billion from those efforts. However, as a percentage of total spending budget, investments in energy research have been well less than 1 percent. His argument is that increased governmental and private investments in clean energy will both pay off well and have many other beneficial societal impacts.

An interesting thing to note about Gates, in particular, is that he was fairly recently a big proponent of nuclear energy. He seemed dismissive of the potential of wind and solar power. Fortunately, he has changed his viewpoint on clean energy.

Gates is now hopeful about three potentially breakthrough technologies; Solar Paint, Solar Chemical, and Flow Batteries.

Solar Paint is the idea that any surface can be covered in a type of paint that can conduct electricity. Three layers are involved – the conductive layer, a white base layer, and a light-sensitive dye on top to generate electricity. However, there’s currently no non-toxic and durable materials that can be utilized for this idea.

Solar Chemical holds much promise in utilizing solar energy to create fuel. This is technology uses sunlight to split water molecules creating oxygen and hydrogen gas. The hydrogen can be used as fuel or to help in other processes like making fertilizer. This is another technology that is in early stages and may not be commercially available for some time.

Flow Batteries involve a new type of energy storage technology that utilizes a rechargeable liquid electrolyte inside two pairs of tanks. Energy is created when sets of radiator like fins charge the liquid as it travels between the tanks. This technology can be seen as superior to lithium ion because it can conceivably used for decades without experiencing loss in charge capacity. However, a commercially viable electrolyte has yet to be discovered.

Bill Gates is discovering what many leaders around the world are – it is possible to do the right thing and make money as well. This is the opportunity that clean energy now represents. There is no longer a trade off for being environmentally minded. In fact, we can no longer settle for the status quo as it has brought an increasing amount of pollution and ecological damage along with it. The time for energy industry disruption is now.

Hopefully the talk in Paris will lead to concerted action in the years to come.

Ahead of the Paris Climate Conference (starting November 30, 2015), Mark Jacobson’s plan to help 139 of the world’s largest countries convert to clean, renewable energy is getting more attention.

Mr. Jacobson, a professor at Stanford University, originally developed this plan with Mark A. Delucchi in 2009. The proposal has seen much press since then, appearing in Scientific American and the journal Energy Policy as well as many others.

This plan is very similar to the one proposed for the U.S. In both plans, it is disclosed how locations can utilize geographically specific sources of renewable energy to provide all of the power that is required. Of the ten specific ways to generate renewable energy, wind and solar energy typically comprise a large majority of the energy generation in any given location.

Mark’s plan shows many positives in transitioning the world to one that is based on renewable energy technologies. It will –

• Create 24 million 35-year construction jobs and 26.5 million 35-year operations jobs.
• Prevent 4.6 million premature deaths per year due to air pollution.
• Allow for countries to be more energy self reliant, reducing energy related terrorist attacks.
• Build a much more economically and environmentally resilient world.

A justifiably common objection to 100 percent renewable energy use is the obvious intermittent nature of these sources of energy. While this may have been a significant concern in the not too distant past, there are now solutions to this problem. Jacobson cites a recent experiment in Canada where 52 homes utilized stored solar energy underground. In this example of solar thermal power, water is heated to 175 degrees Fahrenheit, stored underground and provides heat all winter. This is only one example of non-battery energy storage that can provide cheap energy when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.

IRENA (The International Renewable Energy Agency) will also propose a plan for increased utilization of renewables in Paris. However, their plan is not quite as bold as Jacobson’s. It calls for a doubling of investment into renewables by 2020 and a tripling by 2030. This would have renewables supplying approximately one third of total energy demand by 2030.

On the other hand, Jacobson says that there are no technological limits to achieving a completely clean power transition in the coming decades. He knows that renewable sources of energy will continue to be utilized as sources of low cost power. He, and many others, realize that the main hurdle for a complete adoption of clean energy is political in nature. Here’s a 100.org link (a campaign supporting Jacobson’s Solutions Project) to the interactive map displaying the renewable energy mixes that each country could use.

The good news is that no matter what happens in Paris, solar power will be used in increasing numbers as its cost and environmental benefits become more widely known.

A common question from those looking into going solar is – “Does solar add value to your home?” The answer is a resounding – Yes!

While this may be old news to solar industry insiders, residential solar power is still a new enough industry for the home value discussion to happen. Home builders, developers, realtors and other real estate professionals are now taking the value of solar into their calculations.

So how much value does solar add to your home? Well, earlier in 2015, there was a study led by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which concluded that a solar panel system adds $15,000 to the value of a home. Now this was from information gathered from 1999 and 2013 and is based on an average system size of 3.6 kilowatts. This leads to a value of $4 per watt. Many homeowners would need at least a 5 kw system, leading to an increase in home value of $20,000 or more.

More recently, EnergySage completed an analysis of how solar panels increase home value in 15 U.S. cities. In the top 5 cities – San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, and Newark – an installed solar panel system actually has been shown to add more value to your home than the system itself cost. For example, the average price paid for a system is close to $20,000 in Los Angeles which then increases the value of the home by about $25,000. This amazing increase in property value is definitely tied to the low cost of solar compared to conventional rates in these high electricity rate cities.

The top 10 cities in this survey shows that a solar panel system can easily beat many home improvement projects in terms of value added. Homeowners in those cities will get at least an 80 percent value retention with solar compared to a major kitchen remodel, in which you’ll only recoup about 67 percent of your investment. Solar may not be considered a home improvement project yet, but when homeowners become aware of the numbers involved, this will change soon.

This whole discussion is based on a very important assumption. The assumption is that homeowners choose to own their systems. Most of the benefits of going solar are given up with leasing. While many people do not have the cash needed for a solar panel system, this is no longer a roadblock with the many different ways to acquire solar financing today.

So in addition to the massive savings associated with paying less for solar electricity, homeowners can now look forward to improved home values thanks to solar power.

City officials in Houston, Texas approved a solar project that will supply the city with as much as 30 megawatts of power annually.

Nashville based Hecate Energy is contracted to complete the installation near Alpine Texas. Once completed – by the end of 2016 – it will provide Houston with 7 percent of its total electricity needs. This is electricity that would have been purchased from a coal-fired plant.

Hecate won the bid by beating out 8 other contractors on price. Their low cost solar contract will allow Houston to buy solar power from them at 4.8 cents per kilowatt hour. On average, over the past 5 years, the city has paid about 6.7 cents per kilowatt hour for conventional electricity. If rates for fossil fuel based energy increase, which is quite likely, Houston could save more than $19 million with this solar power deal.

The Mayor of Houston, Annise Parker, knows this is a win-win for her city by stating “….doing the right thing environmentally is also the right thing to do financially. This was a great deal for the city of Houston.”

As good as this solar deal looks, some city officials did express some concerns. For one, the project has not started yet and it also must be completed by the end of 2016 to take advantage of the federal tax credit. This is definitely a major part of the deal and tied directly into the low contract price offered.

City Councilman, Steve Costello, also believes that the deal will greatly benefit Houston – “There’s always a risk when you’re looking at a 20-year program, but I think at the end of the day it will be a savings to the city. We should be looking at things like this. It’s clean energy.”

Houston and other cities across the country will continue to invest in solar power projects like this one. Not only are they now attractive financially, but city leaders will continue to be motivated to do the right thing environmentally.

2015 is quickly coming to an end and there are more solar panel installers than ever.

Homeowners in every major metropolitan area have an abundance of choices for their solar power needs. There are now a wide variety of solar installers to choose from in terms of size and specialization. So how does one find the right company to work with?

The answer revolves around one word – local.

Local solar installers offer quite a few advantages over the larger, national solar companies.

Here are three key advantages –

1. Price –
   Due to local, smaller solar installers having considerably lower overhead, they can offer truly low cost solar power. The difference in price can allow for savings of more than $10,000. Low cost solar installers can offer significantly lower pricing because they do not have to make up for huge marketing campaigns, massive office space, large number of employees, and satisfying investors’ expected return on investment.
2. Better Overall Customer Service –
   Smaller solar contractors are also able to offer a higher level of customer service. In many cases, homeowners who deal with local installers are able to communicate directly with the owner of the company, if need be. In addition to the owner, smaller companies tend to have staff who are all passionate about what they do. This absolutely leads to a better customer service experience. When a homeowner knows he’s dealing with a company that truly cares about the service they are providing, it really shows.
3. Agility –
   Local installers are also much more agile in their overall operations. This is beneficial in being able to more quickly adjust their prices as the cost of solar panels, inverters, and balance of system costs decrease. They can also more easily change the specific products offered to provide the best and most current technology. Basically, being a small, nimble company allows for changes to be made that can benefit homeowners much sooner than later.

At what point can a local company be considered more of a regional one? This is a good question as there is no exact distinction here. If a small-to-medium size company can expand to nearby cities and manage to keep costs down and level of service high, then it can still be considered a good option.

The overall goal here is to achieve low solar power pricing while still getting great products and service. Again, only smaller solar companies are able to provide this valuable combination. It will be very interesting to see how the solar company landscape shapes up over the next few years. One thing seems very clear – smaller solar companies will thrive for years to come.

As we head towards a world increasingly powered by sources of renewable energy, questions about how to make the transition will continue to arise.

California will continue to be the testing ground as it is a leader in both solar power capacity and electric vehicle use. The combination of EVs and solar will play an increasingly large role in the coming decades.

Electric vehicles, in particular, provide a twofold benefit in reducing our carbon footprints. Not only do they not emit CO2 during use, but their battery packs can help utilities handle electricity demand. EVs can store excess solar energy during peak daytime hours. At night, this battery stored solar power can then be drawn from the electric vehicles.

According to a recent article from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (ieee.org) The California Public Utilities Commission has approved a pilot project for 2,150 solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations. Utility PG&E originally proposed a plan for 25,000 stations but may have to wait a while before this larger number is implemented. These stations will be crucial in reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles which accounts for 38 percent of the total CO2 emitted.

In addition to utilizing stored power from EVs, car companies will also be able to use battery packs that get replaced with newer ones that have longer ranges. These older ev battery packs will still be able to hold a good amount of energy and will eventually add up to significant energy capacity for utility usage.

Solar power will continue to be an important part of the renewable energy picture, especially in California. A major reason for this is that the ongoing drought is making hydroelectricity less and less favorable. There will also be more room for solar as land that was once reserved for farming may become available for large scale solar projects.

The fact remains that much must be done for the state to reach its goal of 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. This goal will definitely rely on our ability to drastically increase our deployment of both solar power and energy storage technologies. While commercial and residential solar will add up to considerable percentages, utility solar will be the primary contributor. The good news is that the frequency of utility-scale projects will increase as the price of utility-scale solar decreases further in the coming years.

While California may be the largest renewable energy experiment in the country, the good news is that other states are not waiting to see the results. It’s now widely known that we must collectively make our transition to a sustainable and renewable energy society as quickly as we can.

A recent prediction made by a leader in solar industry research shows installed solar capacity in the United States increasing by a factor of 10 over the next 10 years.

Shayle Kann is the VP of research at Greentech Media, a leader in solar industry data. His recent solar prediction helped kick off one of the biggest yearly solar events – the U.S. Solar Market Insight.

Kann points out that it only took the U.S. five years, from 2010 to 2015, to grow its solar capacity by one order of magnitude (ten times) from 2.5 gigawatts to 25 gigawatts. What will it take for us to reach another order of magnitude and get to 250 gigawatts?

Let’s consider Kann’s analysis of coming solar trends that should help us reach 250 gigawatts.

The most significant factor, of course, is cost. It’s predicted that utility scale cost of solar will approach $1.00 per watt by 2020. This should allow considerable growth in solar installations in the coming years at an accelerated pace.

At the same time, the cost of convention electricity is expected to increase as it has done historically. Kann notes that electricity prices have risen faster than the rate of inflation in the past. In fact, the Energy Information Administration expects a 2.6 percent increase in the cost of conventional energy through 2040.

In order for 250 GW by 2025, Kann emphasizes that we’ll need the rest of the country to take on solar in earnest. As it currently stands here in 2015, only 10 states make up the 90 percent of all installed solar capacity.

The fact that the 30 percent federal tax credit is set to expire at the end of next year was also accounted for in his analysis. He mentioned that no one knows the exact affect this will have on the solar market. It may be initially detrimental, but as prices fall a bit more and the word spreads about how affordable solar is even without subsidies, solar growth can still be expected. The ending of the tax credit is just one of many reasons to buy solar panels sooner than later.

As for the residential segment, Kann touched on an idea thoroughly discussed here at Solar Power Now – how the larger solar installers are still charging too much based on their costs structures. Namely “customer-acquisition” costs are adding quite substantially to the price of going solar with the typical big name installer.

He also stressed the emerging importance of energy storage. It’s quite apparent that if we are truly to rely on solar power, we’ll need to access it after sun down. As costs for energy storage systems decrease, we’ll see an increasing number of utilities, businesses, and homeowners acquire them.

250 gigawatts is a considerable amount of energy. In fact, it is about 10 percent of the nation’s yearly usage. It’s amazing to think that in just a few short years, solar power can reasonably supply that much energy.

There’s much optimism surrounding these solar power goals. In addition to the economics becoming much more sound, the fact is that many are simply not aware of how affordable solar power now is. As more business leaders and homeowners discover what a great deal solar is, the expansion of solar will happen that much quicker.

Indiana may not currently be known as a leader in solar power, but that may soon change.

By the end of 2016, the state will benefit from the completion of 4 solar power projects that will provide a total of 15 megawatts of solar power capacity.

Indiana utility – Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) – wishes to provide its customers with an alternative energy source that will allow them to lower their carbon footprint. A small $2.21 additional monthly charge will be added to their electric bills. This will decrease the need for solar subsidies moving forward.

First Solar has been contracted to complete the solar projects in Mishawaka, New Carlisle, and Watervliet. Mike Koralewski of First Solar has said – “Solar energy is not a science fiction resource for the future. It’s a resource of the future here and now.”

Although I&M gets 50 percent of the energy it provides from coal, the company is looking to reduce that number. Paul Chodak III, President and COO of I&M, admits that “solar has a really bright future. We see it as a pretty important energy source going forward as part of our diverse portfolio of energy resources.”

As exciting as these utility scale solar projects are, we’ll need many more of them to finally make a dent in our reliance on fossil fuels. The bottom line is that this collection of 4 solar installations will only provide power to a few thousand homeowners.

We’ll get there in time.

Indiana and states across the country have what they need for a massive implementation of solar power. Cost is no longer an issue. Available space is not an issue. Quickly arriving energy storage solutions will handle the intermittent nature of solar power.

To help fill in the gaps, business and homeowners will start to do their part. Solar power is a sound investment even in Indiana, where conventional electricity prices are relatively low. Smart homeowners will realize that they can go solar and sell their solar power, instead of buying it from their utility.

No matter which angle you look at it, solar power’s future is definitely bright in Indiana and all across America.

One of the loudest criticisms of solar power is that it can’t be accessed after sunset. While this has historically been true, new solar thermal power plants are about to put an end to this argument.

Case in point, the Crescent Dunes solar thermal plant, just outside of Las Vegas, NV has just been completed this October, 2015. Kevin Smith, the plants developer and CEO of SolarReserve has said “When the grid wants 110 MW, we’ll provide 110 MW. There will be no variability.”

The solar thermal plant will be able to do this by heating a mixture of nitrate salts, turning them into a molten state. The heat from the molten salt, stored in insulated tanks, can be accessed for many hours after it has been heated. While other solar thermal power plants must immediately use generated heat to turn steam generators, Crescent Dunes can access the heat for the turbines when it needs.

This molten salt technique also shows promise of being more effective than gas-powered plants. The tower can heat the salt to 566 degrees Celsius, while oil-based plants can only reach 400 degrees Celsius. SolarReserve is working on a ceramic receiver that can hold molten salt that is as hot as 732 degrees Celsius.

To produce a total of 110 Megawatts of power, Crescent Dunes uses over 17,000 mirrors that focuses light on a 165 meter high heat receiver. While smaller than the nearby Ivanpah tower, the major difference here is the aforementioned ability to store energy.

While natural gas may currently be relatively cheap in the United States compared to many parts of the world, it will only be a matter of time before solar will beat gas-fired plants on cost. In fact, it’s beginning to happen. Of course, gas-fired plants represent a very small percentage of electricity generation. Coal and nuclear are the major providers of electricity that wind and solar need to eventually replace.

Again, energy storage will be the real game changer for sources of renewable energy. We can expect reduced costs for battery storage for photovoltaic (solar panel) applications and reduced costs for molten salt and other heat capturing technologies for solar thermal applications.

Once these energy storage technology costs come down a bit more, we’ll start to see solar begin to emerge as a real player in the energy industry. Solar power will become even more apparent as the obvious energy choice to power our future societies.

The world market size for solar panels is projected to increase more than seven times by 2021. A total of $24.2 billion in solar panels were sold in 2014 and this number is expected to reach $180.7 billion by 2021. This would be an incredible seven-fold increase over seven years.

This report, by way of marketwatch.com, details a growth in the solar power industry due to numerous reasons –

1. Government support has undoubtedly been key in helping to jump start the solar power industry. Federal and state subsidies have helped bring down the costs associated with relatively expensive solar technology. In many parts of the world, solar power is now cheap enough to grow without subsidies.
2. As solar technology production improved and streamlined, costs have come down dramatically. Economies of scale is certainly part of this story. World leaders in power production – namely China and the U.S. – will soon be able to produce solar power at the utility scale cheaper than the cost of coal. As it surpasses grid parity, the implementation of solar power will expand rapidly.
3. Last, but certainly not least, continued improvements in solar technology will further increase the pace of adoption. Solar cell efficiency seems to increase every year with stories of major breakthroughs commonplace in the news.

Word continues to spread about the affordability of solar power at all scales. This idea of scalability is one of solar’s strong points. Solar will continue to grow because it can be used at the very small scale all the way to large utility-level applications.

Solar will continue to bring affordable power to residents of third world nations. A single solar panel can bring substantial power to a home that had no prior access to electricity.

Homeowners in first world nations, of all class categories, will be increasingly switching to solar power because it saves them money. In many parts of America, this opportunity already exists.

When considering how very large the total electricity market is, the fact that the solar panel market is predicted to grow to a size seven times its current one is actually quite realistic.

The complete transition to sources of renewable energy will be something measured in trillions of dollars, not billions. This is simply the size of the energy industry. Solar photovoltaics (solar panels) represents only one subset of solar power, and solar is only one part of the renewable energy picture. The point here is that there is still considerable room for growth as we have merely just begun to make the transition to a world that is powered by renewable energy.

Solar power will increasingly be sought after simply for economic reasons. We can all look forward to a cleaner and more prosperous world powered by renewables.