Can I do solar power?
by William Papolis, Wednesday Mar 28, 2007 5:54PM EST
Summary
I don’t want to discourage anyone from considering building a solar power system for their home. It’s an ambitious project, and each and every "solar home" will certainly help to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
If you consider building it you can expect ...
- Building the system is not the problem, the technology exists now
- Paying for it is a bit of a challenge, around $22K
- Storing energy is possible, but increases the system cost by 40%
- If you generate power during the day, you can sell it back to the grid "one-for-one"
- Satisfying 100% of your daily power needs is not going to happen (maybe 33%+ if you have a really big roof!)
- Expecting a return on your investment is pure fantasy (40+ years)
Further, building a more ambitious system forces us up against another reality, and that is space, or lack thereof. Even if we had the money to put up an even bigger system to meet our power requirements we have limited space to mount panels on our roofs! Further, even if we used up all our roof space (including the less effective space facing North), likely we still won't reach 50% of our daily power needs.
Clearly, we can do it, but it’s expensive, we don’t have enough roof space and it won't give us a return on our investment
Future
When I was thinking about writing this article I was really excited and pumped. I was thinking, “yes, let’s do it. A solar power system for the home is Now!!”
However, having done the research, I became really disappointed. So much so that I was thinking, “… bummer, this really sucks!” Thinking further I decided, instead of ending this article in despair, let’s end with a few small nuggets of hope. So here goes …
Maybe building a solar power system for the home isn’t the best economic decision for now, but what does the future hold? Maybe at some point things will get better? But what are those things to keep an eye on?
Here is a list to keep handy:
- As the price of oil and electricity increases, our energy prices will go up, making solar power more attractive and pay back quicker! (In my neighborhood we pay about $.15/kWhr)
- As solar panel industrial capacity increases, competition increases, so solar panel prices will drop. Current wholesale prices for panels are $4.88/watt. (Keep an eye on this number!)
- For the “Remote” system above, solar panels represented 46% of the purchase price of the entire system; for the Grid-Tied system 83%. As solar panel prices decrease this drastically affects the total system price
- As solar panel efficiency increases (currently the best panels deliver ~20%, but they do cost a premium), we will continue to inch toward delivering 100% of our typical residential energy needs. (Perhaps at some point we may also be able to power Plug-in Hybrid cars at our home as well? Wow, that would be nice, free gas from the sun!)
- In the lab, solar power efficiency has reached ~ 40%. It is possible to increase efficiency, and hopefully those results will filter into our hands soon! Some people have speculated maybe in 10 years, but we will see. There is certainly hope and it WILL happen in our lifetime
Finally I want to share one last and very important point that I will cover in more depth in a future article. Do you think selling your excess solar power back to the grid at “1 for 1” is fair? Is solar power the same as fossil fuel or nuclear generated power? If you are like me you would say an emphatic, “No way!" Solar power is way better for a number of reasons!
Maybe we should give solar power generators a better rate? Maybe 1 for 2, or perhaps even 1 for 3? Think about it, if you were generating solar power and could sell it to the grid at 3 times what you are paying for it, wouldn’t that make the system more economically viable? If this were the case, all the power I generated would be sold to the grid, and when I needed some, I would buy it back. Well, it is possible to do just that, today, and I will discuss it in a future article so stay tuned!
We all know that burning fossil fuels isn’t sustainable. We are very close to the tipping point where everyone will want or need to implement an alternative energy solution. Solar power IS the way to go and at some point it WILL be economically viable for everyone!
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