The problem with solar power for homes – and why this problem doesnt really exist!
Posted on 2008 under solar power for homes, solar power residential | 7 Comments28 Oct
Despite all the latest fantastic news about the industry that provides solar power for homes, there are still certain obstacles to its natural expansion as a primary energy source.For starters, solar power for homes can only be obtained over a certain amount of time in any given day. Now some places, up in Greenland for example, have daylight even during night time. Well that’s fine, but equally, in some other places, like during the winter in Finland, you will scarcely see the sun at all. It rises only about 15 degrees from the horizon at midday! Without question, that would make it very difficult to run solar power for homes there with our current technologies.
Even for the majority of the world’s population, solar power for homes can only be ‘harvested’ for about half of the full 24 hours. Also, those countries that enjoy four natural seasons over the year will have decent levels of sunshine only for three quarters of the year with winter being ‘the lean months’. So there are natural obstacles to the spread of solar power for homes.
While California is an ideal geographical situation for solar power for homes, not everywhere is so perfectly set up. Even in the US, other states do not enjoy such a bountiful supply of glorious sunshine. Inevitably, these places have been slower to get on board the Solar Power For Homes Express.
This, you might say, is the problem with solar power for homes. Now here is the good news for solar power for homes.
While I acknowledge that there appears to be a problem with solar power for homes, I aim to prove that, in actual fact, the problem with solar power for homes simply does not exist. Oh, and I promise, this is not going to be a magic trick!
Just as something only becomes a genuine work of art when someone puts a frame around it, something only becomes a problem when someone describes it as such. The more you see this as a problem with solar power for homes the less you see it as an opportunity for solar power for homes.
So, we’ve heard about the problem with solar power for homes and now we are going to see exactly why this problem doesn’t really exist. Instead of focusing on what we don’t have, you might want to look to what we really DO have.
For example, the radical re-writing of battery storage system technology is surprising even the scientists who are working in that field. So, while many people are still thinking it is necessary to have at least one foot stuck back in the fossil fuel world of the national grid, we at Go Solar Power For Homes, recommend severing that umbilical cord as soon as possible.
As costs fall and efficiency improves, solar power for homes will be seen as a viable alternative even in those places we mentioned above that are not so generously blessed with an abundance of sunshine through the year.
Why not start looking to ship the excess solar power for homes from places like California to places further north? Is that such a wild and crazy idea? We are currently going to extraordinary lengths and expense to pump all that oil around the planet, digging pipelines across whole countries in some cases, spilling huge tanker-loads of the stuff into the sea all too often.
Where there is a will there is a way, and there is no doubt that more and more people are looking seriously at solar power for homes as a valid alternative. There is an undeniable growing interest in the alternative energy industry.
Massively increasing the scale of solar power for homes to an industrial level in terms of global manufacturing will inevitably standardize the methods of production, thereby reducing the general costs to ensure that it seriously competes with grid based fossil fuel sourced electricity.
Add to the mix the huge breakthroughs currently being achieved within the other clean energy industries such as wind and hydro-electric, and we really do have the makings of a viable realistic alternative to those non-sustainable toxic old school fossil fuel based energy sources.
What we are looking for now is innovators, people who are willing to underpin this burgeoning industry with creative financing. I’m glad to say that we are already seeing global examples of government-led assistance in the form of grants, rebate programs and subsidies.
In order for solar power for homes to take that next essential leap, large-scale investors need to come on board. As encouragement, it is clear that there are huge long-term economic benefits to be had. There’s the ever-diminishing cost to buy solar power for homes thanks to those state subsidies and rebates mentioned earlier. Also, investors are already seeing clear evidence that tenants and buyers of those properties with solar power for homes fitted are willing to pay extra for that special “green” tag that comes with solar power for homes.
It’s all looking good for solar power for homes. We are standing on the sidelines cheering, “Go Solar Power For Homes!”
From Sam Deane,
your solar power for homes guide,
at www dot go solar power for homes dot com.
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Photo via iStockPhoto.
The Trackback, /solar-power-for-homes/the-problem-with-solar-power-for-homes-and-why-this-problem-doesnt-really-exist, by Sam Deane, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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by David, on October 28 2008 @ 10:47 pm
I am sure solar industry is promising even the obstacles you mentioned in the post.I still want to invest my money in the solar stocks market .hehe
by Sam Deane, on October 29 2008 @ 5:29 am
yep, I’m sure that’s where the smart money’s heading!
by Total Solar Energy, on December 10 2008 @ 2:02 pm
you are correct about California. Due to its high levels of sunshine, California solar power has some of the greatest potential in the world to make a difference to its inhabitants. According to the California Building Industry Association, more than 150,000 homes are built in California each year.
by Brant E., on June 17 2009 @ 9:11 pm
How are we going to mine the raw materials for solar power without gasoline powered machines? How do you propose we transport these materials? What about making the glass that goes over the front of the solar panels? How will we set up manufacturing plants that produce the parts needed to create an infrastructure that allows each home to contribute to the grid? Seems like they would need petroleum products and a lot of electricity.
by Sam Deane, on June 18 2009 @ 4:28 am
The introduction of the 46 MW Moura photovoltaic power station in Portugal and the 40 MW Waldpolenz Solar Park in Germany show that huge photovoltaic power stations are on their way. Even larger ones are planned, like the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm, and the 600 MW Rancho Cielo Solar Farm.
It has been estimated that covering just 4% of the world’s desert area with photovoltaic panels could supply all of the world’s electricity. The Mojave Desert is one place already being seriously looked at.
Have faith my friend. We are not coming to the edge of a cliff. We will work this through.
The Earth receives more energy from the Sun in an hour than the human race uses in a year. Solar power is one of the most important ways we will achieve this over the next 50-100 years. Have faith. Humanity has shown an ability to invent its way out of all its major species threatening crises it has ever faced thus far. Unstoppable meteor the size of the sun? Maybe. But I do not think a man-made crisis will get the better of us. Solar power is one way forward of many my friend. Have faith.
from Sam
by Green Earl, on June 23 2009 @ 7:39 am
Actually…I just checked on a system our company installed at the foot of 14,267 foot snow covered
peak, Mt. Shasta in Weed, California, 28 years ago.
Yes, it was overcast when I arrived, often is in that
area, but the system was generating 110 degree hot water as this system was a domestic hot water heating solar
system, mostly over-looked and treated as the wicked
step -child of the solar electric PV blow and go contractor these collectors are actually 85 % or so effective in collection of energy (in the form of hot
water stored in batteries, we call hot water tanks)
than a PV collector which runs about 20% or a little
more.
As to your concerns on solar nationwide, or even world wide for that matter, consider that the state of New Jersey is now the second largest solar install state now, just behind California…
Issues like poor climate can often be addressed with additional collection area and or storage…
Green Earl, Founder
American Energy Conservation Group
Producing Negawatts…..Since 1981
by Brant E., on June 29 2009 @ 11:05 am
Agian, where are we going to get the copper and other rare materials to start mass producing photovolataics?
In 2007, the US used 101.545 Quadrillion BTU, and only .081 Quad. BTU came from solar (http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/trends/table1.html). So, that’s where we are at. To be fair, we will definitely HAVE to become more energy efficient. Americans, with 5% of the population, cannot continue to use a fourth of the World’s resources.
Not even taking into account all the capital needed to create a new industry and infrastructure, AND assuming we cut down our energy consumption drastically, AND assuming the efficiency of solar panels increases as the technology gets better, that is still a gigantic gap. Not to mention those assumptions are anything but a given.
The thing about innovation that everyone conveniently forgets is that it’s unpredictable, pretty much by definition. With the computer revolution, the technology increased at a rate beyond our imagination. With space travel, this has not been the case.
I would also like to point out that we have not invented our way out of anything. An honest evaluation of the state of the world (a world in which over 800 million people are hungry or malnourished – almost 3 times the population of the US) will speak for itself. We (affluent Westerners) benefit from technology, but others (communities living where resources we “need” are located), have paid the price historically. The earth is paying the price of our industrial, population heavy civilization. I’m not trying to guilt-trip anyone; this is all true of my lifestyle for sure.
Sam, can you post a link to the source about the desert energy estimation you mentioned?