Solar energy is our future

AS THE cost of renewable engery sources countinue to drop, the united state energy grid could be fully renewable.

Breakthrough of solar panel

In 1954, the first photovoltaic cell is invented at Bell Labs, and it could convert sunlight into electricity at six percent efficiency. Hoffman Electronics is a big contributor to solar tech’s improvement when it boosts efficiency of solar cell to 14 percent in 1960s. In 1999, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory invented a solar cell with thirty-three percent efficiency. Recently, The University of South Wales hits the record of 33.3 percent efficiency in 2016. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory broke the record when they created a device that reaches 47.1% efficiency. There is a race around the globe that countinues improve efficiency of solar cells, thus it will ultimately make it more accessable to many consumers.

SOlar panels are getting cheaper.

There is common thinking that solar panel is always expensive, and it is not affordable for everyone. In fact, a price of solar cells has been dropping dramatically over the past decade. The price of solar phtocoltaic cels was at 77 dollar for 1 watt of power in 1977. Today’s price is 600 times cheaper than the previous cost. As manufacturing volume of solar cells is increasing, both hardware cost and soft cost (other expenses associated with going solar) have been decreasing.

Exponential growth of solar panel

A report shows that the only way to prevent global warming levels reach 1.5 degree Centigrade tipping point is cutting global carbon emisson by half by 2030. Renewable energy sources solar panel should be widely used, and they will replace fossil fuel energy. Many states in the US have ambitious goals to fully adapt to renewable energy. For example, Hawai has a goal that reach 100 percent clean energy by 2045, and Maine’s Renewable Portfolio Standard is exptected to achieve 8p percent renewable energy by 2030. Suprisingly, the United State is not fastest growing market of solar energy, China has aggressive policy that pushs their companies and citizens to install solar panels.

Benefits  of Solar Panel

1.           Provide  Renewable Energy

Choosing solar energy for your house is one of the best solution to combat global warming since it lifts our dependency on fossil fuels and natural gas. Fossil fuels not only cause air polution, but they are a big factor of water polution. In contrast, solar panel is a reliable soure of electricity that does not a strain on our water supply.

2.           Qualify for Tax Breaks

US government has created many policies to incentive people to install solar panels. Federal solar tax credit allow solar panel’s owners deduct 30 percent of the cost of installing the system.

3.           Reduced electricity bills

Installing solar panel could potentially save us money and reduce utility bills. Solar energy can be stored and sold back to grid when there are plenty of sunlight.

List of most efficient solar panels  available in 2020

Most Efficient Solar Panels 2020
Manufacturer	Model	Max power (W)	Cell Type	Efficiency %
Sunpower	Maxeon 3	400W	N-type IBC	22.6
LG	Neon R	370W	N-type IBC	21.7
REC Solar	Alpha	380W	N-type HJT	21.7
LG	Neon 2	355W	N-type Mono	20.7
Trina Solar	Honey DEO8M	375W	P-type Mono halfcut	20.6

 

Disclaimer : Gary Nguyen takes full responsibility for the information posted. The information on this page represents that of Gary Nguyen and not that of California State University, Sacramento.