Author Archives: nickt

The world is changing more quickly than many realize.

We are beginning to witness a major shift towards the democratization of society. This shift is primarily being spurred by continual advancements in technologies of all kinds. Solar power is a shining example.

First, a definition. Democratize:”To make (something) available to all people : to make it possible for all people to understand (something)”.*

The industry term for residential solar power is distributed energy. This is an accurately descriptive term that shows how power is literally shifting all across the country. Solar is continuing to be a game changer in the energy landscape.

In fact, now that residential solar panel systems are less expensive than conventional energy over the long term, homeowners everywhere will start to acquire systems at an increasingly faster pace. While the technology to turn sunlight into usable energy has been around for decades, it has only made financial sense in the past few years.

The democratization of power will entail the shift of power production from the utilities to homeowners and businesses everywhere. This is the literal occurrence of “power to the people”. We will all be energy providers in a more democratic future that is well on its way. This would amount to hundreds of billions of dollars that would go back into the pockets of the people every year.

While distributed solar power figures to have the largest economic impact on the average person, the democratization of society can be seen in other ways as well.

The Internet is a great example. Information on any subject has been readily and easily available to the average American for many years now, thanks to the Internet. How the Internet is accessed might continue to change, but the saying that “knowledge is power” will always be true. A free and open Internet is key for the continual spread of this “power” to the people.

There is a manufacturing revolution that is not far off with the advent of 3d printing. Basic 3d printers can now be purchased for a few hundred dollars. It may not be long before items that are commonly purchased are simply made at home.

It is truly exciting to know that we can all look forward to a future that is more equitable in many ways. Technology that is used to harness the sun’s power, distribute knowledge, and enable all of us to be makers of things is truly amazing.

This is surely just the beginning of the changes we will see in our democratized future.

*Definition from Merriam-webster.com

Those currently looking to discover the cost of solar panels on the internet will most likely end up with false and outdated information.

Admittedly, part of the story here has to do with a quickly falling price for solar panels over the past few years. From 2010-2015, the cost of residential solar power has dropped by 50%. The installed cost went from $6.00/watt to $3.00/watt (See the chart from the Solar Energy Industries Association on this page). Simply put, search engines are still not showing many recently updated web pages for a typical search about solar power prices. Many are from 2011-2012 when prices were twice as much.

The other part of the story is that, as of this posting in early 2015, we are still nowhere close to seeing industry standards on pricing. This can be seen as both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing in that homeowners who shop around can ultimately find a fair price for solar power. It’s obviously bad in that there are quite a few companies that are offering the same product and service for a much higher cost.

Due to their massive marketing budgets, the large solar companies can afford to have a major presence online. They are easy to find in both the paid search results as well as in the organic section. People who end their search into finding some solar pricing with the first site or two that they find will most likely get quoted overpriced solar. Many homeowners still end up choosing these companies and paying an extra $10,000 or more for their solar panels.

The good news is that some light is beginning to be shed on the business practices of the larger solar companies. Here is a good, relevant story from an Arizona-based news site – ktar.com. The article mentions how the total cost of a system can be hidden from homeowners when only the lease payment is discussed. It also mentions how a home would be more difficult to sell with a lien attached to it in the form of a 20 year solar lease.

Many homeowners will justifiably consider waiting for solar prices to fall even more before considering to purchase a solar panel system. This is generally not advisable for two reasons. Deciding to go solar now means that a homeowner would start saving money right now. The second reason is that prices are not likely to fall much further than $3.00/watt. This price, by the way, is about $0.08 per kilowatt-hour over the life of a system. The average homeowner currently pays $0.12 per kilowatt-hour or more across America.

The reason why the cost for solar does not figure to fall much further is that the price of the panels (about $0.70/watt) is just one part of the total cost. The fees charged by a low cost installer and other utility related fees are not likely to change much. Please see the cost of solar page for more information.

As with any large purchase, some research and shopping around can typically save you a good deal of money. Residential solar power is no exception to this rule. It will be just a matter of time before word of mouth about smaller, more reasonably priced solar companies starts to spread. We should see a much more even playing field in the solar industry real soon. That will be a win for homeowners and a win for the environment.

While one could argue that most electric utilities in America have not been the quickest to adopt renewable energy sources, things are starting to change.

In an effort to help meet renewable energy generation mandates, many states are developing and testing energy storage technologies. This involves large lithium-ion battery systems.

A recent story, from climatecentral.org, explains how California continues to be the leader in green energy development. In response to the state’s mandate that its utilities must have at least 1,325 MW of renewable energy storage online by 2024, Edison Electric have invested $50 million in a battery storage project. This is enough stored power for 1 million homes. Another major goal of the state is to provide half of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2030.

Another story involves a utility in Washington state. The seattletimes.com just reported that the Snohomish County Public Utility District recently installed a one Megawatt battery system that can provide 400 homes power for one hour. While this may not seem like much, it is a vital step in the right direction. They know that prices and overall effectiveness of battery storage technologies will improve over time. It is also noteworthy to mention that much of western Washington is fortunate enough to get most of its energy from clean hydropower.

Utilities realize that as solar and wind projects continue to be implemented, there will eventually be more and more need for storage solutions. There simply may not be enough consumer energy demand at any given time. This extra power must be stored to help make large renewable energy projects more economically justified.

By their basic nature, solar and wind are intermittent sources of power. Batteries are absolutely necessary if we are to eventually switch to a 100% renewable energy society. The good news is that costs are coming down and battery efficiency technologies are improving.

Battery technologies are not only just applicable to public utilities, of course. A reasonable prediction for the near future involves lithium-ion batteries backing up solar power at every scale – residential, commercial, and utility. We truly are witnessing the beginning of the democratization of power – everyone will eventually be able to provide and store their power needs.

Major utilities across the country are looking to charge their customers that have taken on solar power.

This proposed, additional monthly fee is to be added to the bills of homeowners that have had solar panels installed. Utilities argue that they need to recoup some of the lost revenue due to a significant number of their customers installing solar.

A recent example of this situation comes by way of insideenergy.org and their piece on Colorado’s Utility – Xcel Energy. Large energy companies, like Xcel, are facing a situation where not only are they selling much less energy to solar power users, but they are obligated to buy excess solar energy from them as well. Xcel’s Vice President of Policy has stated -“That’s a concern. That’s why we’re trying to address it today before it gets to be too big a concern”.

The way that Xcel and other utilities want to address this issue is by charging their solar customers extra monthly fees. This will prove to be a sad and futile attempt to save an antiquated and inefficient energy industry.

The argument that an older technology must be subsidized because a newer, better one has been developed is absurd.

There are quite a few things that make the utilities’ response to this situation almost laughable. It’s as if they do not realize how fragile their existence is. They don’t realize that we are currently in the beginning stages of the distributed energy revolution. The democratization of power is underway. Every homeowner that adopts solar power is one step closer to not needing the grid anymore. It’s just a matter of time before battery technologies are cheap enough for people to not need their local utility at all.

Solar power, at all scales, should be embraced by all. Utilities that are fighting to retain the dirty energy status quo should be ashamed of themselves. There should be much more investment in grid-scale solar and wind than is currently taking place. Luckily, we live in a free market society where consumers can choose better, cleaner energy solutions.

A realistic view of our near-term energy future is one where utilities receive compensation for allowing users to use the grid, instead of also selling energy.

While it is true that we can’t switch to a 100% renewable energy economy overnight, hindering this inevitable transition does not help at all. The big picture view is that adequate energy storage technologies will be arriving soon enough. We need to make sure that we have sufficient solar energy capacity ready to go when that time comes.

Articles on solar power are easy to find of late. After all, the industry has been experiencing major growth in recent years. Unfortunately, many major media organizations keep publishing articles that state that a true solar power revolution is a few years away. This, in turn, prevents many people from doing their own research and purchasing a solar panel system.

The typical false statement that is made is that solar energy will be cheaper than conventional energy in just a few short years. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Anyone that has done just a little bit of research knows that solar power has actually surpassed grid parity; It’s cheaper than fossil fuels right now.

So why does this bad information get published? For two reasons. Firstly, the cost of solar power comes from numbers provided by the major solar leasing companies. Acquire a solar panel system from one of these companies and you will pay much more than you have to. Secondly, most journalists will take all of the PR and statements of price from these companies as an overall industry fact. It takes a really good, hard working journalist to dig a little deeper to find the real story.

There’s no need to call out any particular media organization. They’re all putting out very similarly misinformed articles about the cost of solar power. The fact is that they are inadvertently doing a disservice to all of their readers. The bigger picture is that they are slowing down a much needed switch to renewable energy sources like solar.

The real story about the solar power industry is that it is expanding rapidly. Every 4 minutes (and dropping) there is another solar panel installation that is completed in the U.S. For cash buyers or homeowners who get FHA backed green energy loans, payback on solar is about 5-8 years. After that loan period, homeowners will benefit from virtually free energy. Smaller, local solar installers save their customers many thousands of dollars compared to the big solar companies.

The bottom line is that millions of American homeowners can payoff a $10,000 to $15,000 (on average) solar loan in less than ten years instead of signing a 20-30 year contract with a solar leasing company and end up paying an extra $10,000 or more.

The companies that are offering a much more realistic price for solar will eventually benefit from good word of mouth. After all, they are offering the same product, and, in many cases, much better service than their larger competitors.

In this David Vs. Goliath battle, expect David to win out in the end.

A recent news release from the International Energy Agency (iea.org) states that solar power could be the primary energy source for the world by mid-century.

Citing a continued decrease in costs, solar photovoltaic (pv) and solar thermal technologies will surpass our use of fossil fuels, nuclear, wind, and hydroelectricity. The article mentioned that we would be getting approximately 16% of our energy from solar pv and an additional 11% from solar thermal energy.

Proponents of solar energy, myself included, would state that this is a very realistic and not nearly aggressive enough of a goal. For example, scientists at Stanford University have developed a renewable energy plan called The Solutions Project that claims that the United States could be 100% green energy powered by 2050. I wrote about The Solutions Project a few months ago. If the high per-capita-energy-use seen in America can be converted to all renewable energy in 4 decades, surely the rest of the world can as well. Admittedly, a plan like the Solutions Project calls for a best case scenario in which massive changes start to happen really soon.

While we will need to be powered by all sources of renewable energy, solar power has some unique and advantageous qualities. The ieg.org article mentions a very useful characteristic of solar thermal power; its ability to deliver power after the sun has stopped shining. Molten salt is the common method that solar thermal power plants use to store solar energy. This complements solar pv, in that after the sun stops shining on solar panels, the energy stored at solar thermal plants can then be utilized.

Another promising fact about solar pv technology that can support the idea that it will dominate our energy landscape is its potential for adaptability is enormous. Anywhere there is not enough space for a solar thermal power plant, we can install solar panels. Simply covering our residences and commercial buildings with solar panels would provide us with much of our energy needs.

The simple fact is that solar energy is BY FAR the largest source of potential power that we have access to. It dwarfs everything else. This fact alone makes it the power source of the future. Now that it easily competes economically with other energy sources, it’s only a matter of time until we utilize it fully.

It’s safe to say that the solar power revolution has begun.

There’s only one thing currently keeping solar power from becoming the dominant source of energy throughout the world; inexpensive battery storage technologies.

Grid-connected solar power systems are already cheaper, over a 20 year period, than what most utilities are charging in the U.S. The key term here is “grid-connected”. A homeowner that can take advantage of net metering will get credit for excess power generated from his or her solar panel system. This credit, coupled with the cost of the system, is currently cheaper than what many states charge over the long term.

The possibility of completely disconnecting from the grid is a reality that many of us can realize in the not too distant future. Battery prices are still too expensive to consider installing them as a back up to a residential solar power system. However, considering some information from ThinkProgress.org, major battery players like Tesla Motors and its Gigafactory may be able to bring the cost per kilowatt from $600 to $100.

This would effectively allow for a $6,000 battery storage system based on a 60 kw battery. This cost plus the cost of the solar panel system would still be less than what a typical utility would charge over a 20 year period. Solar systems last longer than 20 years, so your savings would be even more.

Another encouraging revelation about this upcoming change in battery prices is that it is happening much sooner than later. We can expect to see much cheaper battery prices before the end of this decade.

The implementation of solar power is already growing exponentially in America and throughout the world. A steep decline in battery prices is all that is needed for the realization of a truly explosive solar industry. To add to this idea, the costs for solar panels and their installation continue to fall.

We can all look forward to a brighter, cleaner world as the solar power revolution continues to pick up speed.

Joel Pett’s cartoon – “What If We Create A Better World For Nothing?” isn’t new, but it’s more relevant than ever as the Climate Change debate continues to grow.

While I don’t focus on this subject directly, Pett’s cartoon tackles this issue simply and very effectively. Those that think that man-made Climate Change is real have proposed ways to tackle this issue by making the world a safer and cleaner place to live. What if these people are wrong? Well, as the heckler in the cartoon inadvertently points out, we’ve still managed to make the world a better place (in his mind – “for nothing”).

Of course, the “nothing” here is actually a much improved world. This is a world where air and water pollution is eliminated. This is a world that strives to replenish rainforests. This is a world that makes cities safer and more livable. This is a world that is overall, more sustainable.

Much of these improvements can be achieved through the sustainable production and consumption of energy. Sustainable energy sources like solar and wind that power an increasing number of all-electric vehicles is a big part of this solution. We can now produce energy without air polluting emissions. We can now drive cars without air polluting emissions.

In fact, solar power is the solution to many of the key points in the cartoon. We can achieve energy independence, sustainability, produce green jobs, build livable cities, and provide for clean air and water all through solar power production.

Those that do not support green energy sources like solar power usually say that they’re too expensive and intermittent sources of power. While this may have been true in the recent past, these are no longer barriers to the implementation of renewable energy. Wind and solar power have achieved grid parity in many parts of the world. In some countries, they’re much cheaper than conventional energy. Utility-scale renewable energy storage technologies are currently being developed and will be implemented soon.

What’s the true cost of switching to renewable energy sources and making the world a cleaner and safer place to live? It’s simple – a very small number of super rich people lose some of their wealth. That’s it. A green energy economy would be a positive thing for 99.9 percent of the world’s population.

As the word continues to spread to the masses about the dangers of the continued use of fossil fuels, the voice of the people will get louder. We will demand to live in a safer and cleaner world. This is the only acceptable path for the people of the world and the generations to follow.

It’s only fitting that the country that invented modern solar technology will eventually be the leader in its implementation.

There are many reasons to agree with a recent guest article by Brad Mattson on HuffingtonPost.com. Brad explains reasons why the U.S. will eventually steal the solar power limelight away from Germany and China.

Although he primarily points to local manufacturing as our the main path to securing this goal, the fact of the matter is that the overall costs associated with installing solar panels in America have been falling quickly. Solar power has surpassed grid parity when you take a long term view. Power users of all types and scales will switch to solar to not only save money, but to do the right thing environmentally.

According to the HuffingtonPost article, the world has only installed 130 Gigawatts of solar power. Mr. Mattson predicts a future where solar power supplies 14% of the world’s energy needs by 2050. This would take a total of 15,000 Gigawatts of solar power. This would definitely take a major shift in our current energy status quo.

The combination of the now economic feasibility of solar power and climate change concerns will force solar to the forefront of our energy priorities. The change is already happening. Coal plants are beginning to be closed down and phased out. I’m optimistic that the leaders of the fossil fuel companies will begin to invest heavily into renewable energy sources like solar and wind simply because it makes good business sense. The good image publicity will be an added bonus.

Hopefully, the powers that be will finally realize the responsibility that they have to be better shepherds of our environment. After all, it’s in their best interest to do so as the financials are starting to change in favor of clean tech.

The United States has always been the embodiment of the capitalist spirit. It would be unthinkable if America would choose to not take full advantage of the enormous opportunity that solar power represents. As Mr. Mattson put it – solar power is the “greatest energy story of the 21st century”.

A major shift in the way that we produce and store energy has begun. Electric vehicles and solar-powered homes are changing the way we produce and store electricity.

Although both solar power generation and EV (electric vehicle) production remain very small parts of their respective industries, they are both experiencing rapid growth. In fact, it would be a safe bet to expect these two emerging industries to be common-place in the next 10 to 20 years. It won’t be strange to see solar-powered homes with EVs parked in driveways everywhere you look.

These two emerging technologies represent a changing paradigm in how we will generate and store energy.

First of all, residential solar power represents a truly massive transformation in the way that electricity is produced. For the first time ever, the general population can now produce the power that they need. The monopoly on energy production is beginning to erode. We are witnessing the democratization of energy production.

A glaring problem so far with solar power is the obvious fact that we only have access to it during prime daylight hours. This is where electric vehicles can play a part. EVs contain battery packs large enough to store significant amounts of energy. The average American household uses about 30 kilowatt hours of electricity every day. Many EVs contain 30kWh battery packs and larger EVs like the Tesla Model S boasts 65kWh or 85kWh battery packs. This represents more than a day’s amount of emergency energy, if needed.

Electric vehicles are actually fairly grid-friendly. They draw energy from the grid when general usage is minimal (at night) and can supply energy to the grid when general demand is high (during the day). EVs can be seen as a stepping stone to fully self-reliant, battery backed-up solar PV systems.

Eventually it will be common-place to see solar panel systems sold along with back up batteries. For many, it still makes more financial sense to stay connected to the grid and benefit from net metering. However, it won’t be long before the average homeowner can both produce and store enough power to no longer require any from their local utility.

So what are the implications of the mainstream use of solar panels and electric vehicles-as-batteries? Well, the eventual elimination of an antiquated energy system and a significant leap towards a green energy society. This represents a major win for our economy and our environment.

A full transition to EV use and solar power production can supply most of our total energy consumption in American by sector (sectors include residential, commercial, transportation, and industrial). Industrial energy sources will unfortunately still come from fossil fuels in the near term.

The bottom line is that solar power and battery technologies have the capability (and are starting to) change the way the world is powered. We can all look forward to a cleaner and more sustainable energy future.