Solar Power Growing Fast

[irishbobcat]

Solar Power is Growing Fast
June 23, 2008
The use of solar power is growing fast, averaging 40 percent growth per year since 2000, with nearly 3000 MW of power (the equivalent of three conventional power plants) installed globally in the last five years alone.   

The even better news is that solar shows no sign of slowing down, and it's entirely realistic to expect that solar power will represent 10 percent of total US electricity generation by 2025!  And with the growing scale of solar, it is becoming increasingly affordable â€" cost competitive with other forms of electricity generation in some areas of the country today.  It will be cost competitive in most areas of the country no later than 2015.

That's the major conclusion of a new report produced by Co-op America in partnership with Clean Edge, a leading clean-tech research firm.  The new report, the Utility Solar Assessment (USA) Study, shows how clean, green solar power will be the boon electric utilities will need in the coming years, as they face nationwide carbon caps, state-level regulation, and the increased expenses of working with conventional fossil fuels and nuclear power.

When the Solar Electric Industries Association trade group issued its Solar PV Roadmap in 2004, it projected solar producing 7 percent of total electricity by 2030.  And in a January 2008 Scientific American article, authors Ken Zweibel, James Mason, and Vasilis Fthenakis outlined how the US could get a whopping 69 percent of its electricity from solar by 2050.

As the Green Party Candidate for State representative for the 60th District, my goal is to go to Columbus and work with private industry and state leaders to let them know that solar will be a cost competitive within their planning horizons and that you want to get serious about planning for large scale solar deployment now.

The single most important thing you can do is get serious about energy efficiency.  With lower energy bills, you can save up for solar â€" and then, as solar prices come down, you can go solar sooner. 

Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District

Campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com