Subject: Financial Incentives to Expand Solar Power Adoption in the United States
Recommended Action
The lack of a nationwide solar power policy, alongside significant technical hurdles, hinders the progress of renewable energy across the United States of America. Strengthen national policies by introducing financial incentives for research, development, and manufacturing that tackle technical challenges to the growth of renewable energy. Incentives such as tax breaks, low interest rate loans, and grants will allow the renewable energy sector to implement cost-effective solutions and be and competitive against traditional energy sources.
Issues
The U.S. Department of Energy should implement a federal renewable energy policy of
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In addition, expanding the solar energy industry will spur job growth. Consumers want to adopt solar energy because its price is less vulnerable than many other energy sources, like petroleum, to global politics. Limited solar energy storage technologies present the main technical challenge of solar. Current battery capacities are inadequate to store captured solar energy. Moreover, seasonal variability in solar radiation and power demand peaks require the provision of adequate storage to make solar power a practical, large-scale energy source. It is also difficult to connect solar energy to the current grids in America. The regulatory challenges involve governing access to the power grid, creating and implementing legal structures for local ownership, and protecting local owners against larger utility companies concerned with their market share.
By focusing on grid parity and technical challenges through financial incentives, the United States will increase its usage of and benefits derived from solar energy usage. The financial incentives support both consumers and suppliers to adopt and develop solar energy. If the new solar energy supplies cost the same or less than previous energy because of these incentives - achieving grid parity - then consumers will have fewer reasons not to switch to solar energy. If suppliers can provide the
The economy of Texas is currently ranked as the second largest in the United States. A trend of upward economic growth has been recorded in the years following the collapse of the market in 2008. In addition to an overall economic expansion, the population growth rate in Texas is among the highest in the nation. It has been projected that Texas will be home to roughly 50 million people by 2050, an increase of 20 million from 2017 (Hoque et. al, 2014). Closely mimicking the economic and population growth, is the consumption of electricity. On a national level, Texans used more power per capita than any other state. Regulations regarding the environment, in addition to other market pressures, have forced
Renewable energy has the ability to play a major role in the energy industry of the twenty-first century. Shell and other big oil companies are ironically investing in renewable energy sources. Environmental experts realize that renewable energy helps reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. They also predict that by the year 2050, renewable power may grow to supply half the world’s energy. It may seem unreachable, but generating electricity by using the constant power of the sun and wind is already a reality. Solar power relies on the energy produced by the sun, storing energy for nighttime as well. “This energy can be converted in many ways, such as simple water heating or by the direct conversion of sunlight to energy using mirrors or boilers” (Riley).
consumers will be willing to invest in solar panel services due to the reality that these days individuals are
While I trying to research a hot topic in California Real Estate, I came cross and found solar energy penal interesting effect in real estate market. The country’s major professional association of real estate appraisers stated that solar photovoltaic systems classically increase market value and almost always reduction marketing time of single-family homes in the San Diego metropolitan area. A group of California economists observed at that question in a recent study and found that on average, homeowners in California who connect photovoltaic solar panels to power their homes can recover nearly all the investment costs if they move–and that’s on top of the annual energy savings.
The federal government should work on promoting either nuclear or solar energy. Energy is important for survival on a daily basis. In fact, the development of any nation depends on the long-term availability and increase of clean and safe energy that also supports the environment. Currently, no energy source can be said to be sufficiently capable of meeting future needs that a nation requires. It is important therefore to promote any particular type of renewable energy. Promoting and enhancing solar energy would be a better move to take. It is better for the environment if the federal government work on improving solar energy usage. Installation of solar panels by Americans continues to increase with each passing day. Despite this positive progress, this avenue of power is not fully exploited because of lack of infrastructure to store solar energy. Solar energy was ranked as the third electricity-producing source after natural gas and wind energy thus accounting for fourteen percent of the total electricity produced. This significant contribution of the solar energy shows that when properly exploited, solar energy can be a major source of electricity for the country. However, there is need for the issues surrounding its maximum exploitation to be addressed. The government should subsidize infrastructure. The most important infrastructure that the federal government should look into includes connection to the power grid, conversion of the solar
Global climate change has fundamentally transformed the way civilization views the energy of the future. As evidence of the drastic consequences of nonrenewable energy has become more widely accepted, society has embarked on developing innovative solutions to the energy crisis. In areas that experience prolonged periods of sunlight, solar panels have become a sustainable and cost-effective form of renewable energy. The Mojave Desert, located in California and Nevada, has proven to be one of the most promising areas for solar development (The Nature Conservancy). Fortunately, BrightSource Energy has invested $2.2 billion in the construction of a solar farm in the Mojave Desert region (Cart, 2012). The development of solar projects creates a
Currently solar power is beginning to expand horizontally throughout communities. This growth is creating a demand that is beginning to reduce the expense of purchasing and installing solar panels. The concept is catching on and the technology is improving as the demand increases.
As long as our sun exists, we can get indefinitely amount of solar power. In California some industries, factories, hospital, schools, and private homes use solar energy as primary energy source. Energy from the sun can provide us year to year consistent energy power. For example, in west La College uses solar energy for their teaching purpose. The advantage of having solar energy is more efficient than any other energy sources. Once the solar panel mounted, we can get a free charge of electric power throughout the year. The California government supports their community to use solar power for a better electric usage because the benefit of using solar power is more important and efficient than any other power
The solar energy industry creates jobs. The Central Valley is a major hub of agriculture in the United States. The produce in the valley varies from vegetables, fruits, wine, dairy products and fruit juices. To sustain Agribusiness in the region, businessmen and farmers needed to cut the cost of running their farms and ranch. The ability to cut the energy bills has helped many businesses to remain profitable and sustain the livelihood of many families. The increase in Solar Energy in the valley started to grow exponentially in the last decade. The Fresno Bee article, “Valley Solar Firms Shine …,” by Sandford Nax talks about the acceleration of solar company expansion and job creation. Sanford presents the different reasons for the solar
Solar energy is rising throughout the United States. This source is mainly used in remote locations, but is becoming popular in urban areas. In 18 days of sunlight the earth receives an equal amount of energy stored in all of the earths reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas. Solar energy is produced by collecting sunlight with large, flat panels, made up of individual solar cells, and converting the sunlight into electricity. Solar energy is an alternative to fossil fuel and it is important to know the advantages, disadvantages, and the overall price.
Claim: Solar power has the potential to become the United States main supply of energy and replace are needs for more conventional and harmful forms of power generation.
In contrast, some believe that renewable energy is a key factor involved in helping the economy to grow. Many jobs are created in the manufacturing and running of renewable energy plants. The renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies created 8.5 million new jobs and $970 billion in revenue in the year 2006 (Langwith, “Renewable Energy is Economically”). The American Solar Energy Society says by 2030 it could generate up to $4.5 trillion in revenue for the U.S and create 40 million new jobs. This would represent one in every four jobs (Langwith, “Renewable Energy is Economically”). This shows how vital it is to get renewable energy companies in the U.S. It is important to build a stable economy again and do it all while helping the environment.
Vermont has become widely known as a progressive, even cutting-edge state in terms of its public policy. With two out of three of its Congressional delegation officially independent, a groundbreaking civil-unions law, and no fast-food franchises in its state capitol, perhaps that reputation is well-deserved. Energy; its generation, transmission, usage, and impacts upon the Earth, has arisen as a tempestuous, geo-political issue in the past few decades. As the petroleum era explodes (or should we say implodes?), the development and utilization of renewable energy sources has become vitally important for the survival of humanity and all the other species on our shared Earth. So
In addition, solar energy operational costs are manageable. It is free from monthly charges compared to conventional sources of energy. Solar energy does not require raw materials such as oil and coal, and once the panels are built, there will be no monthly charges. In addition, the prices of fossil fuels are increasing day by day, and this means conventional energy will be very expensive. Solar energy will remain the most capable world’s future power supply because, it is cost effective once the plants are built, and there will be no transport costs like for conventional energy sources. Therefore, solar energy is cost-effective, and will help in future energy supply, as the maintenance cost is affordable, as long as they are installed properly, and are working efficiently ( Hans, 2012). Furthermore, with the improvement and advancement of technology, it will increase its efficiency, and cost of production thus, making it more cost effective and the world’s best
In the solar industry, there are many opportunities for innovation and technology not only in the products themselves, but also in the channel development and pricing strategies. The Mexican government and the domestic market in general are primed to facilitate the widespread development of solar power. The CFE, the CRE and the Government Department for Energy are invited to discuss the outlook for renewable energy in Mexico, what support it will receive and what targets are to be reached (Herrera, 2012).