Amidst the impending technological revolution, solar energy can become the world’s primary producer of clean energy by the year 2050. Currently, the average American consumer gets around sixty percent of their energy from nonrenewable forms of energy including coal, natural gas, and nuclear power. With the ongoing climate crisis, there has been a great shift in the largest countries including the United States to start to ween off nonrenewables and focus on cleaner renewable forms of energy like wind and solar. In this case, solar energy is unique because it is capable of being installed on any roof with sunlight or open areas that have decent access to the sun. This practicality of solar energy can be great for consumers to get into the market before everyone does. But how eager should consumers be for new solar technology with a better technology on the horizon? How much should the consumer sacrifice to beat the masses and hopefully profit off of being one of the first producers of solar energy? Solar energy is not as beneficial to consumers as believed because it is unable to outperform existing forms of electricity and make logistical sense for the average consumer. With that in mind, due to solar energy’s attractiveness, consumers are often overpromised and underwhelmed when solar energy systems are purchased and installed in their homes. Due to current technological limitations, solar energy can not provide as much electricity to a home during the day as fossil fuels can. The purpose of this paper is to dispel certain myths and overpromises regarding solar energy to protect potential consumers. 

1. What are the politics surrounding the future of solar?

As previously mentioned solar can become the countries leading producer in energy soon. That being said the implementation of solar is highly contested among our politicians and there seems to be a clear party divide. President Biden and many democrats plan to pass a massive infrastructure bill within the upcoming weeks. The content of the bill includes: “hundreds of billions in tax credits for companies that build wind and solar power or retrofit polluting facilities to capture and bury their carbon dioxide emissions before they enter the atmosphere. And it expands tax incentives for Americans to buy electric vehicles, giving consumers as much as $12,500.” (Plumer and Choi-Schagrin). For the bill to pass it needs complete democratic support in the house and senate which currently some democrats are hesitant to sign their name. 

If this bill is unable to pass, the future of solar can be critically handicapped and delayed. Due to the high price tag attached to this bill and the large tax incentives many conservatives are concerned over the price versus the future of solar energy in this country. However, conservatives should not be concerned over the high costs of the bill because there is a decrease to the tax credits on their way, “After 2023, the tax credit will step down to a permanent 10% for commercial installers and will disappear entirely for home buyers. Therefore, sales of solar will probably burn even hotter in the coming months, as buyers race to cash in while they still can” (Atasu et al.) The race for solar is on and customers must be aware of the benefits that can be provided to them including tax credits but also consumers need to be aware of the risk of needing to upgrade your system years earlier than you would imagine. If consumers are willing to front the cost of a solar system in the current market they are privileged to significant tax incentives at the expense of uncertainty in the longevity of their solar unit. 

2. What the market demand for electricity currently is?

As the need for more energy significantly increases annually, the market price of electricity is subject to change as often as every hour. Electricity demand can be graphed as a bell curve where there is a great spike in the demand for electricity during the evenings and summer months with a decrease in demand being seen overnight or during the winter. As families begin their day there is a generally low demand for power during the morning hours and a gradual increase in demand throughout the day until it peaks during the evening hours when everyone is back at home for the night. The electricity demand is offset by solar power during the midday because power consumption barely surpasses power production on average. Whereas during the evening hours power consumption greatly increases during the evening while solar power production is next to nothing. 

In terms of the market price, the time of day drastically changes the amount of money a utility company will pay for your power that is produced: “During sunny spring days in California, there is so much solar generation relative to electricity demand, that wholesale electricity prices can go negative. Then, only a few hours later, the grid must quickly ramp up other power plants because the sun starts to lower its output just as demand is increasing, giving us what has been called the Duck Curve.” (Rhodes). During the evening hours, any power produced and sold to utility companies will be exchanged at a much higher price than the price hours before. If homeowners plan on utilizing this aspect of solar production, they must be aware of how much power they produce and need on a given day to maximize their profits. As a result, this aspect of the solar market can be very daunting and difficult to navigate for consumers who can not spend their entire day worrying about how much power they consume and how much can be sold off to the utility company to recoup the cost of installing a solar system to their home. 

3. How can consumers avoid outdated tech?

Solar panel technology is not as efficient as often believed and portrayed by corporations looking to capitalize off of a consumer’s innocence. When compared against other forms of energy, solar panel technology is simply not as efficient and cannot produce as much power as its competitors. Coal energy plants operate at around a forty percent efficiency where forty percent of all the power created turns directly into usable electricity. Modern solar panels are only capable of operating at a no greater than fifteen percent standard if conditions are near perfect for power production. Combining that with the fact that solar energy can only be produced during a brief window between sunrise and sunset, it is difficult to see how this can be our main producer of the future. 

As technological innovations occur new technology will inevitably replace outdated tech. Current solar customers will eventually have to decide to either keep their old and outdated systems or chalk up the money for a brand new system. There are some plans in place to ease the burden placed on homeowners including: “Economic incentives are rapidly aligning to encourage customers to trade their existing panels for newer, cheaper, more efficient models. In an industry where circularity solutions such as recycling remain woefully inadequate, the sheer volume of discarded panels will soon pose a risk of existentially damaging proportions” (Atasu et al.) Although the plan is not ideal for many climate activists in regards to upgrading and essentially throwing out old tech, this is currently the only viable option as the old technology is not able to be used in any current known capacity. 

There are not only complications with the actual production of energy but the process of storing the created power creates additional issues. At this point, solar storage systems including batteries like the Tesla Power Wall face a world of issues on their own. This form of technology is relatively new and does have its kinks that must get ironed out including interface and software concerns. In his entry in Science, vol. 315, Nathan Lewis addresses the problems with solar storage systems including inefficiency issues: “To provide a truly widespread primary energy source, solar energy must be captured, converted, and stored in a cost-effective fashion. Even a solar electricity device that operated at near the theoretical limit of 70% efficiency would not provide the needed technology if it were expensive and if there were no cost-effective mechanism to store and dispatch the converted solar energy” (798). Although this article was published fourteen years ago it still maintains some relevance and accuracy in his assessments of the issues regarding solar storage. Consumers may be concerned with his statement especially when he mentions a limit of seventy percent efficiency. For the most part, the missing thirty percent of power is lost through heat which hinders the practicality of solar as opposed to other forms of energy where this inefficiency is less of a concern. 

4. How can solar energy compete against other forms of energy?

One direction that solar energy can take is by providing electricity for homes and businesses but also be used to heat buildings and create energy by heating water and creating steam. If solar energy is the way of the future it must be able to provide energy in all forms. Even with its limitations in producing electricity their are other areas where solar can start to dwindle the use of fossil fuels. Solar energy heating stations are beginning to be developed and installed in many homes. This way, the heating system for their home has no monthly or quarterly bill to worry about and homeowners can be relieved of that stress. Now, in some circumstances, it would not be smart for solar heating systems to be installed including homes lined with trees or dominated by shadows of other buildings. This is a new market where solar can pioneer the future and help ease our current climate crisis. 

The solar heating system works by harnessing the heat energy and transforming that into a source of energy that can heat water systems. Solar can also be used in the commercial aspect: “The latter includes a solar collection for heat in buildings and industrial processes (such as solar hot water and solar heating of buildings), solar thermal electricity (produced by concentrating sunlight onto a receiver to create high-temperature steam), and solar-assisted thermochemical production.” (Blakers 325) These heating systems can be used for large cities including New York City because the current heating system is steam. The energy needed to heat that steam needs to come from somewhere and instead of using fossil fuels to pollute the environment why not use a clean source of energy to do the same job. There certainly is a market that solar heating systems that have yet to be fully tapped and this aspect of solar energy can provide tremendous benefits for all those involved. Climate activists should lobby for solar heating in dense populations. 

5. Solar versus Nuclear Power

Nuclear energy provides a great amount of energy without being too harmful to the environment when compared to fossil fuels. The main issues surrounding nuclear energy are how dangerous it can be if it is unregulated and also how nuclear waste is disposed of. Not only are those just the main concerns with nuclear there are several other severe concerns including: “problems such as nuclear weapons technology proliferation, the potential for fissile material production, reactor accidents, and waste disposal. Nuclear reactors are characterized by strong local opposition, long lead times, substantial security requirements, and perceptions of high risk. This strongly constrains rapid deployment of nuclear energy” (Blakers 323) When weighing the benefits and negatives of nuclear energy some argue that the potential benefits do not outweigh the potential risks. Under a controlled environment, nuclear energy produces the most electricity out of all the other forms of energy. However, the images and disasters that came from tragic nuclear events including Chernobyl and Fukushima prevent many from wanting nuclear energy anywhere close to where they live. This fear is also a reason for the premature closure of the Indian Point nuclear power plant which provided a significant portion of energy to New York City. 

The closure of the Indian Point power plant would have been an excellent opportunity for solar energy to be implemented and make up for the lost energy. However, the sheer magnitude of the loss of power was far too great for any solar power system to make logistical sense. As a result of the closure and the limitations of solar, New York City must now get its power from more fossil fuel power plants instead of clean solar energy. 

6. How solar energy will need to adapt to our future demands?

Solar energy has many hurdles it must overcome in order to become the leader in the energy market and the target year of 2050 grows nearer every year. In terms of solar panel technology, the products must become more cost-effective in production and also be sold at a lower price to consumers. It must also be engineered to either match or exceed the current production levels of fossil fuels if you want homeowners to install these systems on their homes. Lastly, these panels must be able to withstand years of weather and mistreatment because homeowners will not be eager to switch to solar knowing that their system will become outdated and less productive within a few years. The current plan for solar panel research is, “Years from now, we are likely to see alternatives to silicon appearing on our solar farms and rooftops, helping to provide clean and renewable sources of energy. These improvements have and will continue to be made possible by increasing bulk manufacturing of solar cells and new technologies that make the cells cheaper and more efficient.” (Baba et al.) Without hitting these benchmarks, solar energy will not be capable of becoming a leader in energy production. If solar manufacturers want to make this right they will ultimately need to spend years of research and millions of dollars in order to perfect solar technology if they want their product to be successful. Otherwise, their products will not be distinguished in a market that will quickly be filled with intense competition.

Conclusion

At the moment, solar energy simply can not provide the amount of electricity needed in order to compete directly against other forms of electricity. Right now solar panels are used in conjunction with fossil fuels to power homes. Homeowners see a reduction in their electric bills versus a complete elimination of them even though they purchased these expensive systems. Solar technology must reach the point where it can fully operate on its own. Therefore consumers who decide that they want to install a solar system on their home or business should be aware of the true performance of their system. The high costs and low performance do not make logistical sense for most homeowners to shell out the money and install solar in their homes. If solar technology is capable of reaching current fossil fuel production levels coupled with lower costs, then it makes complete sense for homeowners to make the switch to renewable energy. 

Works Cited

Atasu, Atalay, et al. “The Dark Side of Solar Power.” Harvard Business Review, 18 June 2021, https://hbr.org/2021/06/the-dark-side-of-solar-power. 

Baba, et al. “The Future of Solar Is Bright.” Science in the News, Emily Kerr, 20 Mar. 2021, https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2019/future-solar-bright/. 

Blakers, Andrew, et al. “Sustainable Energy Options.” Learning from Fukushima: Nuclear Power in East Asia, edited by PETER VAN NESS and MEL GURTOV, ANU Press, 2017, pp. 319–48, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1ws7wjm.19.

Lewis, Nathan S. “Toward Cost-Effective Solar Energy Use.” Science, vol. 315, no. 5813, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2007, pp. 798–801, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20038948.

Plumer, Brad, and Winston Choi-schagrin. “Major Climate Action at Stake in Fight over Twin Bills Pending in Congress.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Oct. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/10/climate/climate-action-congress.html. 

Rhodes, Joshua. “The Future of US Solar Is Bright.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 6 Apr. 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuarhodes/2020/02/03/the-us-solar-industry-in-2020/?sh=61bfe8515ed3. Stevens, Pippa. “Biden’s New Spending Framework Has $555 Billion for Clean Energy, Focused on Incentives, Not Punishments.” CNBC, CNBC, 28 Oct. 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/28/biden-spending-framework-includes-555-billion-in-climate-incentives.html.