PV Gap

Ian Said:

What are some political costs of using solar energy?

We Answered:

Oil is a huge huge huge industry. People who are interested in reducing our need for oil are usually seen as enemies of the industry. If a candidate aligns themselves with environmental groups, and businesses that offer alternative energy, all kinds of nasty things will be tossed around by your enemies: that you wish harm to the economy, that you are anti American, that you want to see jobs taken away from hardworking people in the oil industry, that you are a sucker for believing the big hoax of global warming, etc....

A lot of your public image and campaign is going to be about undoing that damage and also offering up solutions that can help make the switch...and maintaining relationships on both sides. A truly great leader can hear both sides, filter out the unnecessary, and get them talking to each other about solutions, rather than simply defending their own positions.

Leslie Said:

Costs of Solar Energy?

We Answered:

You will not save any money. With tax credits you might stem the losses. See:

http://www.economist.com/science/tq/disp…

This story estimates you could provide half the electrical needs of a home for $32,000.

Your home has a avg continous load of about 3 to 4 kW, that over a month uses 2650 kWH (nice large home).

At $10 cost per watt for solar cells, supplying a third of your load would be $10,000. That money could buy 100,000 kWh of juice at 10 cents per kWH, that would be 10+ years from the electric company. The sun only shines half the time, and throw in some cloudy days, and you are looking at a 30 year break even.

Hence the need for tax credits for anyone to take this seriously.