Is solar technology advanced enough to be cost effective?
Dr. Strangelove: I have something of a unique perspective on this as the technology is intertwined with nanotechnology advances, which I just obtained a degree in…and I have an abiding interest in energy technology (solar, hydrogen, fusion…) Current solar cells on the market are not that efficient, but expect this to change radically in the next ten years. There are two major developments in the arena: First, several companies (a Japanese firm out west is investing 100 million dollars into a production facility to speed up the process of generating these over the next ten years) are working on developing solar cells coated onto a thin polymer layer instead of using silicon. This will make them far more cost effective, eventually even to the point where you “spray” them onto a home as a sort of paint that generates electricity for you. There is an east coast company that has prototypes of this material and is gearing up to mass produce it. But the really big development in solar cel
Sorry for the wishy-washy-ness, but it does depend on many factors. The factors are not only in the application of the solar collection system, but also in how one decides what is cost effective. For example, electricity from coal or oil fired power plants is much cheaper per kilowatt hour, but that neglects any of the costs of (eventually) dealing with long term after effects of pumping green house gasses into the atmosphere. I should admit that I do not have solar panels, but my neighbor does and uses it for roughly 75% of the hot water needed in the house. I don’t know how much was paid for the system, but the claim is that it has paid for itself many times over. There are also many (fairly) low cost passive solar things one can do to reduce heating in winter and cooling in summer. Good question!
It also depends on how you are using “solar power”. If it is to heat your house or heat the water in your house, then it is very cost effective. If you mean solar power cells to generate electricity (photovoltaic), then they are less effective. Sources: http://www.powerhousetv.com/stellent2/groups/public/documents/pub/phtv_eb_re_000319.
No, I do not have personal experience with home use of solar panels. What I know about it comes from research I did prior to y2k. People can and do power their homes partially or fully with solar panels. Here are some considerations. 1) Most of them also cut down on the power usage as part of the equation. They might not use air conditioning, because that is a huge power draw. The surely don’t use electric (resistance) heat. They might use a gas refrigerator. They use different lighting systems. 2) The single biggest factor is night time and cloudy days. No sunlight at least half the time, so you need massive storage batteries if you want anything approaching normal power usage. That is expensive, and must be replaced at intervals. 3) You also need charging equipment, power conversion equipment (DC to AC), and maybe a way to run off of line current as a backup. The total of equipment cost including panels and batteries runs in the thousands. Plus you need to be able to maintain and ope
