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I wonder what the wider economic effect will be if the price of solar continues to improve and the fossil fuel industry can't find a way to remain competitive.

I wonder what the wider economic effect will be if the price of solar continues to improve and the fossil fuel industry can't find a way to remain competitive. Since some places are far more suitable for solar power generation than others, will those areas end up with a significant advantage in the cost of living? Could that in turn lead to a major migration of people and economic activity to those areas?

marcosdumay 7y ago
If you are talking about countries, cost of energy stopped being an important differential ages ago (except for some very specific niches, like aluminum refining). If you are talking about cities, people will just build transmission lines.
asdfman123 7y ago
Houston might end up with a significant advantage in the cost of living in the low carbon future, because our economy is based on oil and there won't be nearly as many jobs here anymore. Hopefully we get diversifying...
francisofascii 7y ago
I don't think the differences are that extreme. I used this site: https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/ https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/ to get annual energy output for a 4KW system. Houston 5,737 kWh/Year Boston 5,214 kWh/Year Seattle 4,389 kWh/Year
anonuser123456 7y ago
The Saudis can still make money at 20$/ barrel oil. Oil is just a commodity, so the decline in oil consumption will be a gradual process, not a step function. W.r.t. power production in good solar areas, modern transmission tech can send power 1k miles w/less than 1% loss. Those regions will likely export power, not import people.
golemiprague 7y ago
Are you a concerned citizen? From the article it seems like it is not that cheap and that the batteries can work for only few hours so they will still need other resources. I wouldn't be so worried, it will just be another tool in the arsenal of energy generation which will all reduce to similiar costs but with different advantages and disadvantages. Fossil will be reliable but dirty, sun will be not reliable but clean, nuclear will be clean but risky etc. There is not going to be such a big change over all just maybe a slightly different make up but with the growing population and need for energy nobody is going to loose anything.

marcosdumay 7y ago

If you are talking about countries, cost of energy stopped being an important differential ages ago (except for some very specific niches, like aluminum refining). If you are talking about cities, people will just build transmission lines.

asdfman123 7y ago

Houston might end up with a significant advantage in the cost of living in the low carbon future, because our economy is based on oil and there won't be nearly as many jobs here anymore. Hopefully we get diversifying...

francisofascii 7y ago

I don't think the differences are that extreme. I used this site: https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/ https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/ to get annual energy output for a 4KW system. Houston 5,737 kWh/Year Boston 5,214 kWh/Year Seattle 4,389 kWh/Year

anonuser123456 7y ago

The Saudis can still make money at 20$/ barrel oil. Oil is just a commodity, so the decline in oil consumption will be a gradual process, not a step function. W.r.t. power production in good solar areas, modern transmission tech can send power 1k miles w/less than 1% loss. Those regions will likely export power, not import people.

golemiprague 7y ago

Are you a concerned citizen? From the article it seems like it is not that cheap and that the batteries can work for only few hours so they will still need other resources. I wouldn't be so worried, it will just be another tool in the arsenal of energy generation which will all reduce to similiar costs but with different advantages and disadvantages. Fossil will be reliable but dirty, sun will be not reliable but clean, nuclear will be clean but risky etc. There is not going to be such a big change over all just maybe a slightly different make up but with the growing population and need for energy nobody is going to loose anything.