Solar energy is already efficient with the environment; however, in order to solve this problem, we need to improve its efficiency with energy. In order for solar energy to be considered energy efficient today, we have to make the proportion of kilowatt hours produced over cost needed for it less than the proportion of this to fossil fuels. For example, in order to produce 1 kilowatt-hour or 3.6 megajoules, we need 50 cents. However, for coal in order to produce 1 kilowatt-hour for coal, we only need about 3 cents. Over the years, we have been decreasing the price little by little to now 18-30 cents, but this still cannot compete with fossil fuels that are all less than 10 cents. In order to solve this problem, we would need to improve the amount of energy received from the solar cells. We could achieve this by finding alternative materials to use on the cells to expand the
This critical thinking assignment will discuss an article concerning the US imposition of a tariff on Chinese solar panels. Under the Obama Administration, the federal trade panel found China responsible for the harm of the U.S. solar panel industry. China exports billions of dollars of solar products to the United States each year and will face tariffs of up to nearly 250 percent for a period of up to five years before reevaluation (Associated Press, 2012). The U.S. hopes that this will help to maintain a viable solar manufacturing base. The remainder of this assignment will discuss economic principles and explain how these tariffs could affect supply and demand.
Think about solar energy and the first image that springs to the mind is that of those arrays of shiny photovoltaic panels adorning the rooftops and the countryside. Indeed, photovoltaic cells still remain the most popular way of generating solar power. Solar power, for one thing, is not cheap. However, even though the initial set up costs can be quite high, the long-term financial benefits of using solar power are too strong to deny.
Converting from a widely used energy source can an expensive endeavor. One must consider the costs of establishing the new infrastructure to support the energy source. Despite these high startup costs, most subsidies are offered for established non-renewable forms of energy. In fact, many countries even have plans to reduce
China had seem to divide Germany and the rest of European Union as the trading bloc, a group of countries that have agreed to reduce tariff and other barriers to trade for the purpose of encouraging free trade and cooperation, is planning to impose tariff on China’s solar panels. Tariff, tax that is charged on imported goods might alter the free trade situation illustrated in Figure 1.
“Quantitative restrictions on imports and all measures having equivalent effect shall be prohibited between Member States”
Though the United States has been holding back, several other countries have begun making changes for “scientific uncertainty is no excuse for inaction on an environmental problem,” as stated by a German principle in the 1980s. Later in 1990, Germany added environmental protection in their constitution (John Dryzek, 167). Several other countries have also implemented Green policies and set goals to accomplish in the upcoming years. In Saskatchewan, Canada, the 2009 investment for wind powered renewable energy was reported at $162 billion dollars towards the installation of renewable energy (Garrett Richards, 691). Europe also has allocated $105 billion Euros to “subsidize ‘green’ programmes and infrastructures,” The Renewable Energy industry involves 350,000 jobs and generates 40 billion Euros a year in business, according to Oliver Shafer, the policy director of the Renewable Energy Council in Brussels (Quirin Schiermeier, 264-265). In 2009 when
Recently, a report by REN21 (Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century) reported two facts that set the stage for the growth of green energy. First, in 2015, the global economy experienced the largest annual increase of renewable energy; second, developing economies spent more than developed countries on increasing their use of green energy. Another notable fact to mention is that the substantial increase in green energy
These incentives dramatically lower the cost of a solar power system or energy efficiency project. These tax credits and rebates often make solar power less expensive than power from the utility company. We will start from the overview of the U.S economy, the current GDP volume and the contribution by each sector. The inflation rate and the unemployment rate would also have great impact on the growth and the operations of the business in U.S. With crude oil prices
It creates contrasts between the pros and cons of the new system, while adequately describing the solar power market situation at the same time. The author is a writer for Maclean’s who concentrates on technical news and issues. This article has a tendency to concentrate more on the political aspect of the solar initiative, and shows bias as to why these devices may not be of great use. It sights sources whose viewpoints are correct, however they do not meet fully with the concept of the device and its purpose, and are therefore void in context. This is advantageous to those seeking to contrast viewpoints, as the views displayed in the article are easily disqualified due to their lack of knowledge. In addition, the article gives a contrasting method of energy storage. The article was found while searching for solar energy storage on
The big countries like US, Canada, Brazil, China and Germany still have the greatest renewable power generation capacity. These countries seem to rule when it comes to renewable energy source. For the first time, China’s new renewable power capacity has passed new fossil fuel and nuclear capacity. In the 2014 edition of the REN21 report it states that, while Europe and North America have become the top markets for renewable energy, other countries have seemed to pick up some of baggage and could also be the future leaders of it. REN21 has found so
Canadian Solar which is a traded solar cell and module manufacturer has experienced recent strong growth. Despite 2009 fluctuations in the solar industry namely for PV technology, the growth has been fuelled by Government incentives programs to encourage solar PV technology. The Solar industry is now highly competitive and companies follow an industrial organizational model. This is because they all compete mainly in PV technology, and this market is hinged on Government initiatives and renewable support schemes. Also, the international markets such as Spain (FIT) and Germany ( EEG law) influenced the companies ' strategy in terms of rates changes, over supply in 2009 among others.
Akarslan’s book is about solar energy that is used around the globe. Focusing on the pros and cons of the solar panel, Akarslan links that the most controversial green technology isn’t holding up to its reputation. He goes into depth of each time period to explain the direction and development of the solar panels. Akarslan sheds light on the negative effects that have been masked by the positive effects that society focuses on. He links key scientific development of the solar panel and demonstrates how we can change part of the solar panel so that it would cause less harm to the environment. For example, there are many ways to create a solar panel, all being different by the material we use to compose to device, and increasing the efficiency
Solar energy is constantly improving, whether that be financially or more efficiently. As a result, solar panels, a large focus in solar technology, are becoming less expensive. The price of producing panels has decreased dramatically. However, a popular belief is that solar energy is more expensive than fossil fuels. A recent Arabia
Solar cell or photovoltaic (PV) systems usually transformed energy from the sun in to electric current. It can be measured in terms of ‘‘conversion efficiency’’, the proportion of solar energy transformed to electricity. (Henderson, Conkling, & Roberts, 2007) Sunpower primarily focused on the production of solar cell. But by moving in to wafer manufacturing it soon incorporated in to manufacturing of solar power module units. In general Sunpower manufacturing process needed approximately two times as many steps as the usual solar manufacturing process need and many of these steps were distinctive to Sunpower. Sunpower has nearly 15 -20 established cell manufactures, a handful of silicon – based cell manufacturing upstarts and a number of thin film solar companies offering potentially unsettling technologies.