Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
tric generation coming online globally was renewable. In the United States, renewables
were 25 percent of new electric generation.
This sea change won't come to pass without a Rooftop Revolution, however. It won't
happen magically (although the invisible hand will help out our side of the ledger) be-
cause fossil interests will use their power to resist it. And that's why we need to spawn
a new heroic breed of entrepreneurs willing to make it happen—our New Greatest Gen-
eration, which will be willing to take up the fight while building businesses at the same
time. And we need positive energy policies supported by solar citizens to demand that
these changes happen, no matter what King CONG and its cronies say or do.
SolutionsexistfromAtoZ:AtSungevity,foreveryhomeweleasesolartointheUn-
itedStates,wesetupasolarlightingandchargingsolutionforafamilyinZambiasothat
kids there can read at night. In other examples of what needs to be done, export agen-
cies have developed low-interest-rate programs with more than $100 billion in financing
available for solar tech transfer and clean-technology deployment. Microfinancing and
crowdfunding services such as Grameen Energy allow people to access these services
with financing. Mobile billing and other innovations will extend the reach of sunshine
intothelivesofthemorethan500millionpeoplewhohavecellphonesbutnoelectricity
in their homes. That's why Sungevity sponsors a solar lighting kit that doubles as a cell-
phone charger—to get these people connected to the Internet and to the sun, two keys to
twenty-first-century living.
The sky is the limit for this kind of technological and business ingenuity now that
solar is cost-effective. The year 2012 has been designated by the United Nations as the
International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, and the UN called on the world to fo-
cus on this opportunity to pull the world's poorest people from the unsafe and hazardous
use of fossil-fuel energy and into a cleaner, better future. There are many great ways to
do this; indeed, a world of opportunity exists at “the bottom of the pyramid” for solar
entrepreneurs to do well while doing good. Furthermore, solar electricity is one of best
anti-povertymeasuresaroundbecause,whileenergypovertyisonlyapieceoflargereco-
nomic poverty, providing electricity is proven to be one of the best ways out of it. Light
is education for people, and electricity is economic empowerment. This is truly what we
mean by the Solar Ascent.
Why now? Because thanks to the solar industry, it's more affordable than ever, and
you'll continue to save money on your electricity bill over the coming decades. In fact,
going solar by 2015 will be economically rational for two-thirds of the households in the
United States.
Forgive me for sounding like a broken record, but a couple of key things have
happened recently: The cost of manufacturing the panels has decreased by more than 50
percent since 2010. That reduction in costs is passed on to the consumer in the price you
