subject: Solar Electricity System - Are We Ready For It Yet? [print this page] Twenty years ago, any debate or discussion involving solar electricity system or solar power as we call it, would have involved merely a definition of it and how it was seen as a matter of a sci-fi influenced future where cars would be flying and cancer would have been eradicated. It might come as a shocker to a few, but over this period of time, we have seen three major wars over energy resources, all involving the US and two of them in the oil capital of the world, the Middle-East. So what does that tell us? In short, humanity is at risk against itself, unless more renewable sources of energy aren't tapped into.
Now one of the deeply screwed up things about bringing about changes in legislation to ensure the rapid progress of solar electricity system and its implementation, is the fact that most influential governments all around the globe and indirectly influenced by rich oil conglomerates who thrive on this dichotomy of supply and demand, and watch their stocks go high as the demand, naturally exceeds the supply. The ordinary man is not stupid, but he can be easily influenced. The powerful oil and natural gas lobbies have repeatedly tried to undermine the solar power cause by citing reasons which, in current stand to quite absurd. For example, a great deal has been said and written about how maintaining a solar electricity system can be quite expensive. What they do not talk about is how the rate has dropped drastically over the years. Price per Watt peak (Wp), which the standard unit of measurement for pricing, has dropped down from $27 in 1982 to $3 or less in 2010. As of today the tariffs for using solar electricity system is around 2 to 2.5 times the rate of using normal electricity. Imagine ten years from now as the price of solar power decreases, people will look at it as a better economic option as well.
So the question why have to ask ourselves is, are we as a race ready to accept this change of energy source - from an oil and natural gas system, and at times hydro-power based system (which in the form of dams causes a lot of human displacement) to a more peaceful, conflict free and entirely renewable option like solar electricity system? Well, as a race we'd want to survive and for that, earth needs to survive. Exhausting all land based resources and making it eventually infertile is as stupid as ingesting slow poison every day. Building dams ruins the local populace and hampers the ecological balance by disrupting the flora and fauna. If the amount of oil a country consumes annually becomes the yardstick to measure how developed a country is, war is inevitable. And it's only a matter of time before it reaches our very own doorstep. So are we ready for change? We better be. Or else, the future is bleak.
