Is Solar Mainstream?
Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers, (Please click on red links below)
As a result of my post Time To Let It Shine in December of 2013 with the comment regarding “we have simply arrived at a time in human history when solar has finally become sufficiently mainstream….as now that America has more solar or wind-power jobs than it has coal or steel jobs. As investments are shifting dramatically from coal and nuclear to wind and solar, will renewable finally have sufficient political clout to fend off increasingly desperate attacks by its endangering rivals? Time will tell….” , one of our viewers/visitors sent me this video, took place during U.S. Solar Market Insight Conference in December of 2013, at San Diego, CA, shared below:
An interesting check list put out by GTM Research with SEIA, explained by Senior Vice President Shayle Kann, as guide post for whether or not Solar is mainstream:
- a primary source of new electric capacity (in 2013, solar is #2 behind natural gas, up from its rank 4 during the year 2012)
- cost-competitive without reliance on fickle incentives (fossil fuel benefits from multiple incentives…solar had been resiliant regardless how volatile the incentives had been)
- taken seriously by the electricity industry (utility is definitely taking notice of solar, with wide range of reactions)
- bankability (many financing options, such as Solar City, Mosaic, etc.)
To this video, my response is: it’s a good check list, functioning as a guide post. But I believe Mr. Kann may had been using a different yard stick from me. It seems to me that his definition for “becoming mainstream” is my definition for “becoming the primary energy producer“. Nevertheless, one thing we do agree on: Solar Growth had been very impressive and is well on its way in becoming the primary global energy producer. The sooner that day arrives, the better off it will be for all Earthlings.
Another video on the similar topic, uploaded by Stanford University, “The Era of Mainstream Clean Energy: Solar Rising” (<– shared here).
~have a bright and sunny day~
Gathered and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
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Tags: energy, GTM Research, mainstream, SEIA, Shayle Kann, solar, Sun, Sun Is The Future, sunisthefuture, sunisthefuture.net, susan sun nunamaker