Why Isn’t Everyone Using Solar Power?

In a 15-minute period of full exposure to the sun, the earth receives 350,000,000 terawatt hours of power. In 2005, electric plants worldwide generated 17,320 terawatt hours. This means that, in less than one hour, the earth gets enough energy from the sun to meet the needs of the world’s populations.

Fossil fuels are burned to produce conventional energy, which converts to approximately 1.5 pounds carbon dioxide for every 1kw of electricity produced. This is emitted into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases. The average home accounts for 22,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions every year. Isn’t that scary?

Harnessing the sun’s energy to generate electricity is clean and safe. There are no emissions and it is a practical solution to our energy plight. As the costs of technology and manufacturing go down, this will also become an economical alternative for many more people in the future.

Currently only 0.1% of electricity produced in the United States is generated from solar energy. Why isn’t everyone using solar energy?

In August 2008, the Wall Street Journal printed an article about groups that opposed to putting up distribution lines for solar power. These groups have political backing, which is a sad commentary. Environmental activists are also blocking the construction for these lines and want deliver restricted to those who want solar generated electricity in their homes.

The power grids in many regions is antiquated, over 100 years old, and overburdened in areas. Finding a solution for a cost efficient delivery system will take collective creativity in order to get tremendous amounts of energy from one place to another.

The expense of solar panels takes them out of reach for many homeowners. Despite solar power installations substantially increasing a home’s value, the cost of buying and installing solar panels is a deterrent. There are flexible solar panels, not made from silicon, in development. If these are released onto the market, solar generated electricity may be within the grasp of more people although it will still be expensive.

Currently there is not a lot of incentives available to encourage more people to add solar energy to their power options. There must be other effective and attractive rewards for those that decide to go forward with solar power. If the 30% federal tax credit was bundled with other federal incentives it may stimulate people to go move toward solar.

Global warming and the instability of oil prices have been front and center in the news and will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. These issues, along with federal and state incentives, will convince some people to take the plunge but for some, it will still not be enough incentive.

Until these problems are resolved, it is likely that solar energy will not be a reality for the majority of homeowners. If the problems were to be overcome this year, it would still be 10 years or more to get 20% of American homes converted to solar energy. At present, the most viable option for most homeowners is solar panels or roofing tiles on their home.

The quest for more advanced, refined solar energy technology is moving forward quite rapidly. With nanotechnology for solar cells under development and will be available on the market in the next few years. There have been other breakthroughs in solar cell designs being developed that could see solar generation of electricity as a cost-effective source of electricity for the masses. If the technology is successful, we could see new solar cell products on the market in the next few years.