Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of economic activity, the world is getting smaller while more connected and therefore in
a way bigger at the same time.”
Poised for Progress
While these groundbreaking shifts have been taking place in Europe, China, and the Un-
ited States, the world's reigning superpowers have brought about important changes of
global significance in the electricity market. The year 2011 marked the first time in his-
tory that these powerhouses invested more money in renewable energy than in fossil
fuels. The main driver of this has been the fact that solar power has fallen in price to be
equal to, or even less than, much of the electricity we pay for in our current grid.
In California, one of the nation's most expensive electricity markets, a homeowner's
peakelectricityuse,onaverage,costmorethan$0.18perkilowatt-hourin2011andwent
as high as $0.35 per kilowatt-hour. Solar-leasing companies save the average consumer
more than 15 percent, depending on the cost of installation and financing. Every state is
different, but the economics are improving all the time, and by 2015, according to pro-
jections by the Department of Energy, two-thirds of US households will save money by
using solar electricity.
The main driver of the cost reduction in installed solar panels is the fact that the core
component of solar-power systems—the silicon cell—is, as we've discussed, now be-
ing produced in volume. We've seen this happen before in the computer hardware in-
dustrywiththecommoditization ofthesiliconchip,aslightlydifferent-sized productbut
surprisingly similar from a manufacturing point of view. As integrated circuits or semi-
conductors became much cheaper, microprocessing—the service they provide—became
more widely available for less, and microprocessors ended up in everything from cars to
phones. Like silicon chips, solar cells continue to drop in cost and become more power-
ful as time goes by.
THE PRICE OF ELECTRICITY
Made from Solar or Fossil Fuels
