Where We’re Going In Clean Energy

craigshieldsPosted on May 2, 2012 Posted in Photovoltaics

Here’s an article that gets to a couple of important points that are illustrative of where we are and where we’re going in clean energy.

• Financing solar photovoltaics. There is no doubt that homeowners would be more likely to invest in solar if the PV on their roofs could be integrated in their mortgage, just like their plumbing, HVAC, or electrical system.

• Integrating electric vehicles. My friend Paul Scott has enough PV on his roof that his Nissan LEAF very rarely has to plug in to the grid; thus the carbon footprint of his transportation is limited to the manufacturing of the vehicle (and the PV) itself. Not bad! Obviously, he’s an early adopter, but this concept is likely to go mainstream over the coming years.

Tagged with: carbon footprint of transportation, clean energy, electric transportation, Electric Vehicles, EVs, financing solar panels, integrating PV into a mortgage, Nissan Leaf, Paul Scott, solar energy, solar power, solar pv

One comment on “Where We’re Going In Clean Energy”

Frank Eggers says:

May 2, 2012 at 12:05 pm

One of the problems with using PV systems at home to recharge electric vehicles is that it won’t work for people who use their electric vehicles to drive to and from work, unless they work on a night shift.

Using solar energy to heat homes and provide domestic hot water would seem to be better than placing PV units on home roofs to generate electricity. About 70% of the energy used by homes is used for heating. Also, while PV cells are generally somewhat less than 20% efficient, solar collectors to heat water can exceed 50% efficiency.

One of the reasons that using solar energy for heat has not received the attention it deserves is that, unlike PV systems, there are no government incentives to use it in the U.S., although I’ve read that in the UK, there are government incentives to use solar energy for heat.