Author Archives: nickt

In a recent article from Bloomberg’s BusinessWeek, The World Health Organization released a report that stated that 40% of the 7 million people killed by the effects of air pollution in 2012 lived in China.

As shocking and horrifying as this statistic is, it should come as no surprise. After all, China produces the world’s stuff. This requires massive amounts of energy, most of which is still produced from coal. China’s leaders vow to “declare war on smog” while coal plants continue to be built to guarantee economic expansion.

Overall, 3.7 million people died from outdoor air pollution in 2012 alone.

This is obviously not just China’s problem. We’re all in this together, especially as the world continues to get smaller and more interconnected. In this increasingly global society, everyone is responsible for everyone else’s pollution. Also, significant amounts of China’s pollution will find its way around the world as well.

Ironically, China has been a major producer of solar panels for years now. Apparently market conditions have not been favorable enough in China to prevent the majority of them from getting exported to other nations like the U.S.

I’m hopeful that the economics will start to make enough sense real soon to adopt solar on a massive scale. As of this post, solar power reached grid parity through much of Europe.

There is much that American can do to help spur solar power elsewhere around the world. We need to take the initiative and lead by example by installing as much solar and renewable energy as quickly as possible. It’s already starting to happen.

It’s just a shame that we had to wait this long.

It may come as a surprise to some, but solar power is by far the largest source of energy that humanity has access to.

There are many graphics that have been produced to highlight this fact, but none has done the job of expressing this idea as well as the graphic made by Richard Perez, a Research Professor at the University of Albany’s Atmospheric Sciences Research Center. Here is the image –




According to the graphic, the Earth receives about 23,000 terawatts of energy per year from the sun. This is an astounding amount of energy compared to the 16 terawatts that the world currently uses. Capturing a tenth of one percent of this energy would give us more than we would need.

It’s important to note that the four larger circles, representing the polluting and non-renewable sources of energy (coal, uranium, petroleum, and natural gas), are total recoverable amounts. The numbers associated with these four sources of energy will eventually decline, as opposed to the yearly guarantee of 23,000 terawatts that we receive from the sun every year.

The good news is that word is getting out to the powers that be that solar is now as affordable, if not cheaper than conventional energy sources. “Grid Parity” has been a long time coming, but it’s finally here. In order for solar to finally catch up and surpass other energy sources, across the board implementation must occur. Utility scale, commercial, and residential solar will soon grow at exponential rates.

It’s fitting that this first post is about potential. The potential that homeowners have to do their part to speed up the solar revolution is very exciting. I am happy to do my part to help make sure homeowners receive the most cost effective solar solutions possible.

Here’s to the future! It looks bright from here.