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I've been hearing that for 20 years now. The long term is over.

especially in the sunbelt, with its combination of lots of sunshine

It is a fallacy that only the sunbelt has enough sun. You need photons, not heat. We have plenty of sun here. Again, Germany is entirely north of Maine. DC is as far south as Lisbon and Athens. Plenty of sun here.

and lots of low-density housing (i.e., lots of exposed rooftop space for solar panels).

Why do you need low-density housing? Any roof is good. Also, there is more than solar cells. There are also solar-boilers which capture heat. A buddy of mine in Holland has one on his roof. Saves him 75% of his gas bill.

But it shouldn't be overhyped in the short term. There are still enormous practical and economic obstacles to large-scale deployment.

Like what? Honestly, it's not very hard. There are just a few things that need to be done:

* Oil, coal and gas subsidies, handouts and tax loopholes need to be ended.
* Local opposition to solar power installations need to be removed (historic preservation panels, HOAs, local ordonances0
* Customers need to get the right to feed excess power back into the grid. I.e., when they're not using their home-generated power, their meter needs to run backwards.

Then, let customers pay for their own installation, and allow volunteer larger-scale projects through power companies to cut cost. If PEPCO finds 10,000 of its customers to buy and install solar power at the same time, that will be cheaper for them than all 10,000 buying individualy. Plus, maintenance will be cheaper because an area will have similar installations.

@ Richard Layman:Jasper, electric cars and trucks would be a lot more competitive if gasoline was priced comparable to that in Europe.

True. Gas is way too cheap here. But it's not like electric cars are all over Europe. They're just as scarce as here.

charging infrastructure is a tricky thing.

It really isn't. People up north are used to power plugs for their engine heaters. It's just a matter of building the outside plugs, and finding a way of charging people for it. The biggest obstacles I see here are garage owners that need to get used to becoming power salesmen, and local ordinances and opposition against the plug installations.

THat being said, apartment buildings and office buildings are particularly good places for the equipment.

Exactly! But you need to convince businesses that they need to become power salesmen.

General street availability isn't as important I don't think.

Why not power up parking meters? The power lines are there.

The plugs are really a last 10 feet problem. Who will build, maintain and pay?

by Jasper on Jun 1, 2012 9:48 am • link • report