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Sat, 14th Mar 2020 17:14:00 |
Now Would Be A Good Time To Appreciate Solar Power, Amirite? |
If you blinked, you missed it. March 13 was Solar Appreciation Day, and even with all the coronavirus goings-on the Energy Department remembered to blast out an email reminding everyone (well, everyone on their email list) to appreciate solar power. As if we need reminding! Nevertheless, let's dig into that email because it offers up an interesting counterpoint to a major new energy report from The Atlantic Council.
It's Solar Power Appreciation Day!
For those of you new to the topic — as are we — Solar Appreciation Day has been celebrated every year on the second Friday of March each year since…well, if you can figure out who started Solar Appreciation Day and when they started it, drop us a note in the comment thread.
Meanwhile, the Energy Department finds plenty to appreciate about solar power. Here's a condensed version of their list of things to celebrate:
1. The sun is nearly limitless and can be accessed anywhere on earth at one time or another.
2. The cost of solar panel installation is less than $3 a watt; a whopping 65% decrease from $8.50 per watt 10 years ago.
3. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has created six-junction solar cells that convert 47% of the captured sunlight into electricity.
4. In 1954, Bell Laboratories built the first silicon solar cell—the template for nearly all of the solar PV technologies in use today.
5. DOE research is supporting an advanced solar system that can restart the grid if no spinning turbine is available.
6. Solar provides 30% of the new electricity produced in the United States in 2019, up from just 4% in 2010.
7. About 250,000 people work in the U.S. solar industry these days and there are more than 10,000 solar businesses around the country.
8. The cost of an average-size residential solar energy system decreased 55% between 2010 and 2018, from $40,000 to $18,000. DOE is also focusing on reducing financing burdens and red tape for American families who choose to go solar.
9. Solar panels are a manufactured product that take significantly less energy to fabricate than they produce over their lifetime.
Got all that? Good! Most of this is familiar territory, but one thing that does stick out is item #5, in which the Energy Department brings up the topic of what to do if no spinning turbine is available.
Read original full article
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