It’s been great for people like me that go off grid at times for travel and their efforts in the solar areas has seen dramatic drops in the cost of solar panels for many. They are possibly at their lowest prices ever now due to their investment in these areas.
This is not say they are perfect and everything is great but it is kind of disturbing with all of their issues (and some would say there are many) they get that living in the 1600’s with coal mining isn’t perhaps the best practices for everyone on a massive scale.
Many of our western local governments fight against alternative sources and even stop projects as they have guzzled the oil, gas, and coal are the only ways to go Kool-Aid. It’s great for jobs and business they say.
There is no “possibly” about it. Right now, solar is the cheapest form of electrical generation ever, in human history, and it is still getting cheaper. It has literally seen price drops of more than 2 orders of magnitude in my lifetime. It is, without a doubt, going to be the primary means of energy generation for the future of our species, assuming our species is to have a future.
It’s hardly something the Chinese can claim as their achievement, though. There’s a large economy for solar panels – and frankly, the Chinese production ramped up in response significantly to Californian demand under their (now besieged) rooftop solar policies. A lot of players are involved from research to production to demand and any one country that claims it’s all thanks to them is sweet-talking you.
Solar getting cheaper does worry me from an enviromentalist position.
Too many people, governments, and corporations are sticking panels over top of ecosystems that rely on that sunlight, rather than bother with the hassle of installing them on top of existing human infrastructure.
Cheaper panels is gonna lead to more techie investors turning deserts into wastelands, and we dont have any real safeguards against that yet.
It’s been great for people like me that go off grid at times for travel and their efforts in the solar areas has seen dramatic drops in the cost of solar panels for many. They are possibly at their lowest prices ever now due to their investment in these areas.
This is not say they are perfect and everything is great but it is kind of disturbing with all of their issues (and some would say there are many) they get that living in the 1600’s with coal mining isn’t perhaps the best practices for everyone on a massive scale.
Many of our western local governments fight against alternative sources and even stop projects as they have guzzled the oil, gas, and coal are the only ways to go Kool-Aid. It’s great for jobs and business they say.
There is no “possibly” about it. Right now, solar is the cheapest form of electrical generation ever, in human history, and it is still getting cheaper. It has literally seen price drops of more than 2 orders of magnitude in my lifetime. It is, without a doubt, going to be the primary means of energy generation for the future of our species, assuming our species is to have a future.
It’s hardly something the Chinese can claim as their achievement, though. There’s a large economy for solar panels – and frankly, the Chinese production ramped up in response significantly to Californian demand under their (now besieged) rooftop solar policies. A lot of players are involved from research to production to demand and any one country that claims it’s all thanks to them is sweet-talking you.
Solar getting cheaper does worry me from an enviromentalist position.
Too many people, governments, and corporations are sticking panels over top of ecosystems that rely on that sunlight, rather than bother with the hassle of installing them on top of existing human infrastructure.
Cheaper panels is gonna lead to more techie investors turning deserts into wastelands, and we dont have any real safeguards against that yet.