Of all the renewable energy sources we have to choose from, solar power has by far the most potential to supply all our energy needs into the foreseeable future. That\u2019s because it\u2019s practically infinite. It comes from the Sun\u200a\u2014\u200athe largest power source in the solar system\u200a\u2014\u200aand the sun isn\u2019t going anywhere for billions of years.<\/p>\n
And even though we\u2019ve had the ability to harness the power of the sun for over a century now, it hasn\u2019t become efficient enough or cheap enough to compete with fossil fuels until very recently. Now we\u2019re in the midst of a solar power revolution that promises to change the world in much the same way as computers have.<\/p>\n
For the first time ever, the declining cost of solar power is putting it in direct competition with fossil fuels. In some parts of the world, solar power is even cheaper than oil. And it\u2019s expected to keep dropping.
\nBut the technology behind this energy revolution is not new.<\/p>\n
In fact the first solar cell was created in 1883\u200a\u2014\u200aonly a year after the first coal-fired power station was built by Thomas Edison. Just a few decades earlier, it had been observed that an electrical current could be generated in some materials when exposed to sunlight. This was the photovoltaic effect. If someone could harness this effect, electricity could be generated with no fuel whatsoever\u200a\u2014\u200awherever the sun was shining.<\/p>\n
But this early solar cell only converted about 1% of the sunlight falling on it into electricity, making it no match for Edison\u2019s coal plants. For the rest of the 19th century and much of the 20th, the dream of solar power would remain just that\u200a\u2014\u200aa dream\u200a\u2014\u200aand fossil fuels would dominate our energy landscape. It wouldn\u2019t be until the 1950s when solar cells finally became efficient enough to be a reliable power source.<\/p>\n
Through their work developing the silicon transistor\u200a\u2014\u200awhich would lead to the electronics revolution\u200a\u2014\u200aBell Labs developed the first practical solar cell in 1954.<\/p>\n
NASA became one the earliest consumers of these new and improved solar cells and solar panels soon became commonplace on satellites and spacecraft.
\nBut the solar power boom we\u2019re seeing today didn\u2019t really take off until the oil crisis of the late 70s. The scarcity of fossil fuels and rising gas prices at the time motivated a whole new generation of entrepreneurs to envision a world where solar power could wean us off oil dependence.<\/p>\n
Richard Swanson was one of these entrepreneurs. After researching solar cell technology at Stanford, Richard Swanson founded his solar power company, SunPower Corporation, in 1985. But he is most well known for the law that bears his name\u200a\u2014\u200aSwanson\u2019s Law. Swanson\u2019s Law states that solar panel prices will decline by 20% every time the capacity of the solar industry doubles. Which basically means that the more solar panels we make, the cheaper they get. And that is exactly what is happening now.<\/p>\n
In 1977, the price of a solar panel per watt was about $76. Today, in the US it hovers around 50 cents. Commercial costs, including all the setup and installation, is just below $2 and it\u2019s expected to be under $1 by 2020. By comparison, the construction costs of a coal power plant\u200a\u2014\u200agenerally the least expensive power source\u200a\u2014\u200aare a little over $2 per watt. Much of this price decrease has happened only in the last decade or so.
\nAnd it hasn\u2019t just decreased in that time\u200a\u2014\u200ait has plummeted.<\/p>\n
Much like Moore\u2019s Law\u200a\u2014\u200awhich projected the exponential growth of computer processing power\u200a\u2014\u200aSwanson\u2019s Law projects the exponential growth of solar cells. And the same exponential growth that put a computer in most of our pockets is giving us cheap, practically infinite energy.
\nThe price of solar power has dropped so precipitously and the growth of manufacturing has risen so fast that the International Energy Agency has had to consistently revise its solar power estimates to keep up with the growth.<\/p>\n
All this growth means solar power is reaching grid parity in many locations all around the world. Grid parity is the point at which the cost of an energy source becomes equal to or less than the localized cost of electricity. This figure varies from location to location because the cost of electricity varies.<\/p>\n
Grid parity is an important benchmark because it\u2019s the point where solar power becomes a financially feasible alternative to fossil fuels. Generally, if you live in a sunny place like southern California, solar power is now just as cheap as fossil fuels. And if we want to slow climate change, we have to start burning less fossil fuels.<\/p>\n
In 2011, Germany became one of the first countries in the world to reach grid parity with solar power. This is pretty astounding because Germany isn\u2019t necessarily renowned for its sunny weather. Heavy investment in solar power led to grid parity there but countries all over the world are reaching grid parity without any government subsidies.<\/p>\n
Grid parity has been reached in about 30 countries so far\u200a\u2014\u200awith more than half of all the photovoltaics deployed in the coming years expected to be in China and India.
\nRight now, 20 US states are currently at grid parity for solar power. 22 more are expected to reach that goal by 2020. That\u2019s 42 states out of 50 that could start relying on solar power as much as fossil fuels.<\/p>\n
Even the state I live in\u200a\u2014\u200aIllinois\u200a\u2014\u200ais expected to reach grid parity very soon. And I can tell you from experience, Illinois is not known for its sunshine. At this rate, solar power is expected to be the world\u2019s number one energy source by 2050.<\/p>\n
For one, although the power supply is free and limitless, it is not always available. It could be cloudy or it could be night. But large capacity batteries could store electricity for use during the dark times and we could always burn a little fossil fuel to fill in the gaps. Even with an intermittent electricity supply, widespread solar would help ease the use of fossil fuel by significant amounts.<\/p>\n
Solar power requires no fuel (except photons and they are virtually limitless). It is carbon neutral. Even the carbon emitted in the manufacture of solar panels is offset by the carbon saved through the use of solar power over fossil fuels. And most solar photovoltaic systems have an estimated lifespan of 30 years or more. Solar not only changes where the bulk of our energy comes from, but it also has the potential to change how our energy is distributed.<\/p>\n
No longer will electricity have to generate at massive central power stations as Thomas Edison envisioned. Solar panels can be set up right where the electricity is needed\u200a\u2014\u200aon the roof of your home, or on the pavement of your roads. Individuals could own their own solar panels and generate electricity for themselves or even sell excess energy back to the grid.<\/p>\n
Just as computers decentralized communication and information, solar power could decentralize power generation. This could be especially useful in disaster areas or regions of the world with deteriorating power grids or no grid at all\u200a\u2014\u200awhere people might have no other way of obtaining reliable electricity. It doesn\u2019t require access to a mine or an oil field. After all, the Sun shines everywhere\u200a\u2014\u200aregardless of national boundaries and geography.<\/p>\n
Solar power could not only empower the citizens of developed countries to take charge of their own energy generation, but it could also allow the millions of people on this planet who have never had electricity to finally have a cost-effective way of obtaining it. It\u2019s hard to overstate the wide-ranging effects this solar power revolution could have. After all, we\u2019re talking about the Sun here.<\/p>\n
Even nuclear energy doesn\u2019t hold the same potential energy reserves as our Sun. And the pursuit of nuclear fusion seems kind of redundant when you realize we already have a working fusion reactor right up in the sky, providing us with more energy than we will ever need.<\/p>\n
While our energy future will always be powered by a variety of energy sources and fossil fuels won\u2019t be eliminated entirely\u200a\u2014\u200anot in the near term anyway\u200a\u2014\u200asolar power is the only energy source we have at our disposal that promises to give us clean energy from an unlimited source.<\/p>\n
This next technological revolution is already underway. It\u2019s been underway for over a hundred years now, but for decades, solar power was stymied by high cost and poor efficiency. But both of those barriers are gone now. There is no reason to think that solar power couldn\u2019t be as ubiquitous and as widely available as the sunlight that powers it. Whether it lives up to this potential depends solely on us.<\/p>\n
The sun has been here for billions of years and it will continue to be here billions of years after we\u2019re long gone. Our time on this planet is a finite resource. But the choices we make now will determine whether or not it is renewable. This is why we created GoShares, to make an everyday action into a force to save our planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Of all the renewable energy sources we have to choose from, solar power has by far the most potential to supply all our energy needs into the foreseeable future. That\u2019s because it\u2019s practically infinite. It comes from the Sun\u200a\u2014\u200athe largest power source in the solar system\u200a\u2014\u200aand the sun isn\u2019t going anywhere for billions of years. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n