One Picture Tells The Story: Solar Is World's Fastest Growing Energy Source
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 12.31.07
"According to The Earth Policy Institute production of photovoltaics (PV) jumped to 3,800 megawatts worldwide in 2007, up an estimated 50 percent over 2006. At the end of the year, according to preliminary data, cumulative global production stood at 12,400 megawatts, enough to power 2.4 million U.S. homes. Growing by an impressive average of 48 percent each year since 2002, PV production has been doubling every two years, making it the world’s fastest-growing energy source."
For most people and most businesses, energy conservation is more cost-effective for the time being. But this is still great news for the future. On the other hand, if all the coal plants slated for construction world-wide were actually built, the claim to "fastest growing" wouldn't hold up for long. We are at a nexus.
Fair disclosure: this writer has a very small portfolio of pure-play solar stocks. Wishing it were bigger!
Via::The Energy Blog, "FYI: Solar Cell Production Jumps 50 Percent in 2007"
That's the most beautiful hockey stick graph I've seen in a while.
I invested some money in Evergreen solar at it is one of the fastest growing stocks that I've ever invested in. Hopefully it'll make enough for me so I can sell it to buy some solar panels.
I'm buying a house in the LA area and will be looking to go solar. I'd really like to at least zero out my electricity bill. Can anyone recommend a good company to do this? Thanks.
We installed a grid-tied PV system last April... it was an extremely satisfying thing to do.
A few yrs back in CO (where I live), we passed a law OKing a tax on energy consumption, the proceeds of which go for renewable energy. Our utility uses it to rebate PV installations. So between the utility's rebate and the federal tax credit, we paid ~30% of the normal price tag.
Other states have incentives... check out http://www.dsireusa.org/index.cfm?EE=0&RE=1 to get the latest on your own state.
There's more (and less) to this report than meets the eye (and that includes the hockey stick graph).
You can read more here: http://invisiblegreenhand.blogspot.com/2007/12/pv-solar-data-in-2006-and-2007-less.html
The most interesting recent development on the solar front IMO is the new manufacturing process by Nanosolar. PV technology is effectively finished, but look for massive expansion in the solar installation base over the next few years (decade?).
Treehugger should post an article on this company if they haven't already.
More information here: http://www.nanosolar.com/index.html
OK, never mind my previous post... as it turns out, I found extensive coverage of Nanosolar on Treehugger.com. However, some of my key questions are still unanswered, such as:
When will Nanosolar panels be available for purchase by the public?
When \ Does Nanosolar plan an IPO?
I'm just as impatient as everyone else... :)