2 ms·

I am curious how they generated their cost estimate. Hardware costs have already come down so significantly in the past few years, non-hardware costs (aka soft

I am curious how they generated their cost estimate. Hardware costs have already come down so significantly in the past few years, non-hardware costs (aka soft costs in the solar industry) now represent around 2/3 of the total installed costs. Soft costs include installation and maintenance, which precise tracker systems would increase over the traditional fixed PV array. Hardware cost reductions are probably not hitting the low hanging fruit of solar power costs. http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2013/5306.html http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2013/5306.html Another factor to consider with concentrated solar is that it is more likely to be affected by soiling (ie, dust, bird poop and other particulate) issues than traditional PV. This would mean even more cleaning and maintenance adding more to the soft costs. Soiling is a fairly common problem in areas with lots of sun and little rain. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/pvmrw2011_19_cpv_winter.pdf http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/pvmrw2011_19_cpv_wint...

zackmorris 12y ago
This is true, I was going to post a similar comment. So one thing to consider is that the way we incorporate solar and other alternatives into our society and economy is incorrect. We should be adding it to all new construction, as it would not significantly increase costs like retrofits do. Also simple design decisions like giving a building the proper orientation with the sun, choosing deeper crawlspaces, using white roofs, using dual pane windows, choosing swamp coolers or ground loop heat pumps over air conditioning, and going with ductless/non-centralized climate control can eliminate the majority of utility costs. Amortized, these initial costs appear as savings because the payback is only a couple of years today. The only truly expensive components (windows and heat pumps) would be readily affordable with subsidies, because the government is in it for the long haul. Homes are being built in Germany that are completely off the grid. They only have small wall units in each room for emergency heating, but are otherwise insulated well enough that the home is room temperature year-round. In fact, to get to the point of all this, alternative energy and wisdom in construction is already significantly cheaper in the long term than the status quo. But incentives and building code regulation is being blocked at every turn by the fossil fuel industry, and by libertarians who unwittingly support it by taking the short view on spending and ignoring amortization or return on investment, offsetting the opportunity cost of inaction onto the public and environment. There is an argument for freedom here (that we should be able to build however we want), and I sympathize with that as a resident of the red state of Idaho, but there is no economic one. We passed that point about 10 years ago when wind and solar installs started going up exponentially around the world, but we chose to have a military presence in oil-rich countries instead.

zackmorris 12y ago

This is true, I was going to post a similar comment. So one thing to consider is that the way we incorporate solar and other alternatives into our society and economy is incorrect. We should be adding it to all new construction, as it would not significantly increase costs like retrofits do. Also simple design decisions like giving a building the proper orientation with the sun, choosing deeper crawlspaces, using white roofs, using dual pane windows, choosing swamp coolers or ground loop heat pumps over air conditioning, and going with ductless/non-centralized climate control can eliminate the majority of utility costs. Amortized, these initial costs appear as savings because the payback is only a couple of years today. The only truly expensive components (windows and heat pumps) would be readily affordable with subsidies, because the government is in it for the long haul. Homes are being built in Germany that are completely off the grid. They only have small wall units in each room for emergency heating, but are otherwise insulated well enough that the home is room temperature year-round. In fact, to get to the point of all this, alternative energy and wisdom in construction is already significantly cheaper in the long term than the status quo. But incentives and building code regulation is being blocked at every turn by the fossil fuel industry, and by libertarians who unwittingly support it by taking the short view on spending and ignoring amortization or return on investment, offsetting the opportunity cost of inaction onto the public and environment. There is an argument for freedom here (that we should be able to build however we want), and I sympathize with that as a resident of the red state of Idaho, but there is no economic one. We passed that point about 10 years ago when wind and solar installs started going up exponentially around the world, but we chose to have a military presence in oil-rich countries instead.