Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
This is incredible news for people and the planet. Solar panels are now being mass
produced, and consumers are benefiting from cost reduction due to volume production,
much like with cell phones and other electronics. For every doubling of the manufactur-
ingcapacityofsolarpanels,there'sbeenan18percentpricereductionoftheendproduct.
The investments made in solar-product manufacturing by China, Korea, India, Germany,
the United States, and other countries over the past five years have broadly tripled the
production capacity, bringing down the end-product price more than 50 percent. That
value is passed on to you in the price you pay for the electricity coming out of these
products.
Justasthemassproductionofsiliconchipsdrovedownthepriceandincreasedtheaf-
fordability and the availability of computing power, so too will the reduction in the price
of silicon cells make solar power universally available and affordable. This will unleash
an era of economic possibility as to how we can use solar power, which, today, some say
is silly. Who knew that your oven or clothes dryer might serve you better with a micro-
