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Page added on September 1, 2013
Solar Energy Cheap As Natural Gas By 2025
A new Department of Energy study predicts Arizona will use more energy per capita than any other western state by 2025. The study also says that among western states in 2011, Arizona produced the smallest amount of renewable energy as a share of its total generation.
New solar projects will significantly increase that share, and the report says renewable energy is getting cheaper. If the cost of wind and solar power continues to drop, it could be just as affordable as natural gas by 2025.
All this is from Denver’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Study author David Hurlbut said each western state could use a different mix of renewable power and natural gas, “so that it provides the best hedge against volatile gas prices, the best emission reductions, the least impact to wildlife, and at the same time maintains system reliability.”
The study looked at the best sources of renewable energy for different areas in the West. It found in 2025, the Pacific Northwest and California could get wind power from Wyoming and Montana. Idaho could develop more geothermal power.
10 Comments on "Solar Energy Cheap As Natural Gas By 2025"
KingM on Sun, 1st Sep 2013 8:07 pm
I hope they’re right, but the microchip industry has convinced us that things will keep getting cheaper and better. I know this has happened in solar the past twenty years or so, but I don’t think we have anything approaching a guarantee that it will continue.
bobinget on Sun, 1st Sep 2013 8:27 pm
I believe it’s ‘thermal solar’ being touted in the little article. THis has more to do with storage then microchips. Concentrated sunlight boils water and the rest is BAU. We read about this here:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/basics/renewable_energy/thermal_storage.html
bobinget on Sun, 1st Sep 2013 8:41 pm
Arizona best get on it . Already, given Arizona’s geographical location it is already using more gas to cool in summer then heat in winter,
This certainly will happen now that Republicans have figured out how to make money from Centralized Solar Power. By it’s nature, PV solar panels are DEcentralized
on site, point of use electricity. Something giving utilities fits until now, the era of massive wind and solar farms suddenly deemed a better deal then coal, nuclear even natural gas.
No need to take up a collection for your favorite natural gas producer just yet. NG a hydrocarbon will still be most useful making everything from fertilizer, to cement, to diesel, to crotchless panties.
TIKIMAN on Sun, 1st Sep 2013 11:33 pm
Lol, I’m sure..
Whats gonna happen on a cloudy day, the price spikes 500%? Give me a break.
GregT on Sun, 1st Sep 2013 11:57 pm
Arizona will be uninhabitable in a few decades. Best to move northward now.
Newfie on Mon, 2nd Sep 2013 12:39 am
The cost is not the question. The question is can it be scaled up to replace all the energy we get from burning fossil fuels. If the answer is no then the cost is irrelevant.
DMyers on Mon, 2nd Sep 2013 2:54 am
The main problem with this prediction is that there ain’t gonna be no 2025. If you want to wager on it, I’ll pay up on 01/01/2026 (if I still have a job).
Steve on Mon, 2nd Sep 2013 2:55 am
What is the carbon footprint? How many of the components will be produced using solar power? What’s its useful life? Will the fossil fuels be available in 20 – 30 years to mine the ores, transport them, fabricate parts, and transport them to site for replacement/assembly? Aren’t we using all fossil fuels and ores now for BAU? Where will the excess come from to scale up these “farms”? The energy is free and inexhaustible, the infrastructure is not.
BillT on Mon, 2nd Sep 2013 3:40 am
The comments are better and more accurate than the advertisement from Arizona. All have good points. A dust storm is going to make them unusable and acres of panels will take manpower to maintain and clean. Then there is the coming water shortage that will make Arizona an uninhabitable desert again. and as the temperatures climb, there will not be enough solar power to keep everything going anyway. Not to mention, who is going to fund this?
Kenz300 on Mon, 2nd Sep 2013 3:55 pm
It would take only 2% of the Sahara desert’s land area to supply the worlds electricity needs” …………
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Solar energy is safe, clean and gets cheaper and more productive every year.
IBM solar collector magnifies sun by 2,000x |
http://peakoil.com/alternative-energy/ibm-solar-collector-magnifies-sun-by-2000x