Its quite easy to slip into philosophical thoughts when considering solar power. What is purer than living off of light? How much closer to the source of all that is could you make yourself? Maybe the Egyptians and their Ra were onto something…
In the United States, we see solar polling high across a range of questions, from 2/3 of Americans wanting a national new home rooftop mandate, to 89% wanting more solar farms. There’s not much in the world that polls at 89% outside of playing in the grass, puppies and kittens, and apple pie.
And we’ve got to wonder why everyone “likes” solar so much.
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My argument is that it represents some of the fundamental nature of the universe, and that this nature has formed a similarly fundamental piece of the fabric that makes up the socio-economic model the United States of America deployed.
From a universal nature, and go with me please, a single solar panel, an electron, a human and the ideas of a free society seem to have much in common. We individuals, like these electrons acting as particles, exist within a broader society, like a wave of electrons. And your solar power panel, living as these electrons move through a circuit while feeding these individuals moving through their highways, also finds itself within a broader power grid.
Little tiny pieces coming together to become grandeur.
Sub-atomic field interactions into elements, into particles of dust, then rocks, and stars, and planets, and solar systems and then us. Then we as single celled organisms, who organize into complex creatures, which in turn make themselves into families, and tribes, and cities and nations. Those who come together, those particles, those people who build those families into a country that protects them. And from here we all grow.
Complexity arising.
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When the founding politicians of the United States of America came together almost 250 years ago – they had ideas similar to these. Ideas of inalienable individual rights, ideas of giving persons the ability to achieve their happiness. But they still had reality, and the fact that they needed to bind together to survive – because those around them would take what they please otherwise.
And so together, they founded states, levied their own taxes, fought together, died together, and came to a hard accepted conclusion that they must give up their pure individualism to create a nation. To protect the weak and strong, to be an electron in a wave, a net metered residential solar project at the end of the cul de sac sitting at the grid’s edge.
And that’s why we love solar power.
It’s clear the parallels to life of the increasing complexity of solar cells, then modules, and strings, and combiners, and inverters, transformers and the power lines of our grid. It ties to us in that there’s also the life giving individualism of self generation – of your home being a fortress. Of many homes being a nation. There is the retaking of the economic power from the monopoly electricity generators. There’s helping those around you, cleaning their air, because you care for their health. If only because you care for the health of the state with ideas that help us, but more broadly because you’re a human.
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And so, for me, solar power has much potential. Its nature is fundamental, and because of that, like vines growing from the dirt, its influence will start small, and slowly work its way up. Into your home, into your car, into your work, remaking the global politico-energy hegemon, and giving a small piece of the might, the power, back to the people.
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Well that is certainly one way to look at it!!
And a good one.
But it taps into something even more elemental, security. There is few things more conservative or progressive to have than your own 25 yr supply of energy.
From that you just need food, shelter and solar charged transportation and one is insulated from most anything that come along.
Or in my case allowed me to only work 10hr/wk for my long life average though the oil recessions, wars, 2008 world depression, I had a fairly good time traveling, fishing, sailing, helping others, etc because I wasn’t working 9-5.
I tried it but the government took it away so I said I really didn’t want to work hard anyway. . ;^)
And solar is so near universal. On a 100’x100′ lot gets 5kwh of sun energy/day US average. You only need to catch a little bit. ;^)
Here in Florida , the south it’ll rule in 7 yrs as will be so cheap on homes, buildings as they go from being loads to being generators.
Up north combo of solar for summer, small wind, CHP for winter will make people independent.
Jerry well said: “From that you just need food, shelter and solar charged transportation and one is insulated from most anything that come along.”
What has ‘come along’ and has been in play is the inefficient 100 year old grid business model and technology. Commodity fueled centralized generation with power corridors for distribution in a unidirectional grid is idiocy at its finest. We burn fuels to keep our homes, work place, stores, civil buildings air conditioned to protect us from natures elemental extremes. From steaming hot to bitter cold. We burn these fuels for our electricity and yet, ‘most’ of the time the sun beats down on our domiciles that require electricity for air conditioning to make the environment right. Instead of fighting nature, use the natural resource of the sun to air condition your home, use the energy of the sun to heat your home when it is cold. Store the energy and use it for several hours of the day and into the night. Let the bloated condescending CEOs and Board of Directors of these utilities, cry about losing their monopoly on the grid. For all of the utility suits, distributed non-fueled energy generation with energy storage. A grid that is bi-directional and a customer that IS a partner in ‘our’ enterprise. IF you can’t understand the jist of this, then it is time for YOU to go.
Yes — “Freedom Photons”! And let us suggest that these Freedom Photons are taking us to the #AgeOfFreeEnergy — when our “equipment” provides all our energy without any fuel source other than the Sun.
All infrastructure “equipment” to date has an install cost, O&M cost, and fuel/power cost. For example, HVAC equipment provides us indoor space conditioning. We gladly pay for the Cost to Operate (fuel/power + O&M) because the benefit it gives is greater than that cost. And we gladly replace/upgrade the equipment every 20 years or so because we understand that “infrastructure equipment” has a finite life, but that life well exceeds the time needed to pay for replacement.
Solar is exactly like HVAC in that it is “infrastructure equipment” whose cost ‘well exceeds the time needed to pay for replacement/installation’. Further like HVAC, there is some O&M cost. But entirely unlike HVAC or any other infrastructure equipment, there is a Zero Cost for Solar PV “Fuel” thanks to the Sun. It is in this way that Solar is an entirely new kind of equipment that creates power output for Free, except for O&M and installation cost recovery like all equipment.
It is a new Age Of Free Energy thanks to Solar PV and excellent programs like the DOE’s #SunShot initiative which can rightly take credit for the now fully affordable initial cost of PV. Even further, DOE #SunShot2030 efforts will further reduce the cost of PV dramatically, so the “replacement” cost of this infrastructure will be even less driving it well past “Free” Energy.
The Age of Free Energy — when the 250 year drain of wealth from all our communities to the greedy and dangerous and globally disruptive fossil fuel industry Ends, and Energy Wealth remains in our local communities and regions! You can find a further discussion of this important new Age of Humankind at http://netzerofoundation.org/.