Solar Power Cost

Posted on August 6, 2009 by admin

So how much does solar power cost exactly?

solar power cost

Well, maybe a better question we should be asking ourselves is, what will it cost us if we do not invest in solar power systems. With the effects of Global Warming, pollution from cars, and waste generated from power plants, we are effectively killing our most precious resource. If we do not begin to change the way we create and use energy, we will no longer have a livable earth to make our homes on. We will be handing down a diseased planet not worth living on to our children, where there will be no clean water to swim in, fresh non polluted air to breathe, or nutritious produce to consume. It is time to join a movement that is continually gaining momentum and will continue to do so. However it needs your help, and all that’s asked of you is to save money while saving the earth. So when thinking about solar power costs it’s not a very difficult decision is it?

There are so many reasons to install solar power to your home that it makes no sense not to anymore. More benefits are being discovered everyday. For instance the solar power systems cost of a residential home is dramatically reduced due to the fact that after the initial investment of installing solar panels, the energy created is 100% free. Older methods of energy creation that pollute the atmosphere like coal and nuclear technology are rising sharply in price and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Did you know you can even sell the solar energy to the utility company’s even furthering your savings. Not to mention the positive effects on the earth that come with not needing to use negative forms of generating energy. Solar panels are 100% environmentally friendly, no pollution at all, zilch, Nada, nothing!

Fortunately we are able to utilize solar power in easier and cheaper ways due to advancements in technology and techniques used to create more energy efficient, cheaper, and better looking solar panels. Luckily there are extremely easy ways to lower the cost of solar power, and also have some fun by making solar panels yourself. Doing it this way can drastically lower the amount of money you’ll spend on your initial investment. I highly recommend trying it out, just be careful when purchasing a kit, they are not all created equal.

This site is dedicated to helping everyday people move towards creating there own self sufficient renewable and cost effective solar electricity. For those of you who think that implementing solar energy into your household is to expensive or that you would like to but have no idea of how to go about it, well then you have come to the right place. It is our hope that we will be able to teach you about Solar Power Cost and the savings it will pass on to you.

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Thailand’s Environmental Apathy Disapates, Spells Good News For Solar Power

Posted on April 4, 2011 by eliwagar1

Thailand and Solar Power

So back to our Thailand solar power segment. Wow, it’s been a couple of stressful weeks with all the things happening around the world. You have the over-thowing of corrupt regimes all throughout the middle east, the nuclear disaster in Japan, and also the horrible weather that has been effecting Thailand.

The temperatures have plummeted in whats supposed to be the hottest period of the year and storms have been pounding the south of Thailand, flooding villages and towns, killing people, and destroying much needed farmland. As I continue with this Thailand solar power series I want to wish all my friends, family, and everyone who has been affected by the devastation’s in Asia safety and hopefully a return to a peaceful life soon.

As I spend time in South East Asia it is blatant to see that the old ways of doing things are changing, this can be both a good and bad thing, and for a lot of issues they desperately need to change. Developing country’s have a sort of apathy towards ecological issues such as littering, slash and burn crop techniques, and methods of producing fuel and electricity. Who can blame them, after all they’re just trying to survive right.

But, as a developing country has more and more economical success and more exposure to the world, the views of the people change. They can then turn their attention to other issues around them instead of just surviving and putting food on the table for their family. Thailand has been in this shift for awhile and you can now see signs of it everywhere you travel within it’s borders. Whether it has to do with not throwing their trash on the sidewalk (yes this was very commonplace not to long ago, and is still a major issue), having huge problems with gangs of roaming street dogs (buddhist religion does not support spaying or neutering of animals), animal rights and conservation in general, and energy production responsibility.

In fact as I talked with the Thai people it was apparent that ecological concern and responsibility is becoming more and more important in Thai society. The apathy towards environmental issues is waning at an ever increasing speed due to awareness derived from social groups, mass media, and groups of environmentalists. Solar power is an extremely hot subject in Thailand right now as it would be able to provide a large amount of jobs for the Thai people. As Thailand is quite sunny especially in the North East it is especially suited to this type of alternative energy, the other advantage is it would be able to help ween Thailand off their dependence of natural gas, their main source of fuel, that they have to import from other country’s such as Laos.

The real trick to building a sustainable alternative energy infrastructure is to marry the ideology of both the environmentally responsible and the economical centric of any given society. What this means is that there needs to be a win/win situation for both the environment (clean energy = less pollution) and the economy (solar power farms and plants = money and jobs). The only way to achieve this is by lowering the cost of solar power. The only way to reduce the costs of solar power is to develop better methods and equipment, and of course the only way to develop better methods and equipment is to fund research and development.

In any case in the next decade we will see awareness of solar power spread even more throughout Thailand, and I see them as being the soon to be leader in alternative energies in the South East Asia region.

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Japans Nuclear Problems and Solar Power Costs

Posted on March 28, 2011 by eliwagar1

Japan's Nuclear Problems Are Just Starting

Hey folks hope your doing well today. I am a bit conflicted as I really wanted to continue my segment on Thailand solar power, however it would be a bit irresponsible of me to ignore the horrible nuclear disaster that is happening in Japan. So stay tuned for further posts about Thailand’s emerging solar power industry.

I feel for the Japanese, I really do, but nuclear travety’s have happened before with 3-mile island and Chernobyl, and it was just a matter of time till it happened again. Nuclear has and will play a huge role in moving the human race into this modern era, nobody is contesting that, however their have always been warning’s and fear that revolve around nuclear energy generation and for good reasons. Radioactive waste that is created from the energy generation will be around for a long, long time. This radio active waste remains so hot that if not treated properly it will burn straight into the earth. A meltdown itself is a loose term that pretty much means that the nuclear reactors core has partially or completely collapsed from one or more nuclear fuels element exceeding it’s melting point.

This is what we are witnessing now in Japan, the cooling systems have been compromised and the pools where spent nuclear fuels are kept in order to keep their temperature at below melting point are drying up because of the intense heat that is being put by the spent rods, this is why you may have seen on the news that the Japanese have been trying to flood the reactors with salt water from helicopters and the US have brought in gigantic water pumps.

Even if these extremely brave men and women, who have pretty much signed a death contract as they will die from radiation poison, are able to save the reactors from complete melt down the effects of nuclear radiation have already passed into the soil, water, animals, and sea. The devastation of this incident will be felt for generations to come.

So what really annoys me about this whole situation is the stance that America is taking on defending nuclear power. Look after everything we’ve been through in the nuclear age, nobody in their right mind would be able to say nuclear energy generation is safe, that would be purely absurd, right? Well that’s what we’re being told at this very moment. Look nuclear energy is important as we turn to the future, but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the cost of solar power, and rich men in the nuclear industry that want to continue stuffing their pockets by misleading the general public. Alternative sources of energy are a burgeoning new frontier for the human race, it should be embraced for what it is, not shunned for what it isn’t. And, folks lets be honest at the moment it is not cheap. Solar power costs a lot more at the moment than traditional forms of energy generation. But with continued research and development, alternative energies will become more effective and cost exponentially less. In fact clean forms of power generation will be the catalyst that will vault us into the next age of our evolution, and perhaps even better it won’t kill us or poison our home while it does it.

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The Kyocera Thailand Solar Farms and The Isarn People

Posted on February 10, 2011 by eliwagar1

This House Could Easily Take Advantage of Solar Power

Alright, if any of you have been following solarpowercost.org, you will know that I am in sunny Thailand, soaking up some rays. I will be writing several articles about solar power initiatives that are being implemented while I am here, so stay tuned for more.

Today I am feeling extremely fortunate as I am back in Thailand from a 5 day stint in Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and it’s surrounding ruins. Lets just say you either love Cambodia, or hate it. Unfortunately for me, I belong to the later. However Angkor itself is definitely worth a trip to this cesspool, at least once in a lifetime, as it is truly a wonder of the world.

But as I have said I am back to my beloved Thailand and today I would like to talk about the largest by far project that is under development.

In late December Kyocera Group, a Japanese based company that specialize in ceramics, information technologies, and electronics, announced plans on a massive solar installation in North Eastern Thailand. The solar installations will consist of 6MW solar farms to be built at 34 sites. This is a win win situation for Thailand as for anyone who has visited before will know that the North East of Thailand is considered Isarn (pronounced Esan). This is by far the hottest area of Thailand (also the sunniest, and best suited for solar based alternative energies), as well as the most impoverished. I am extremely lucky to call many an Isarn good friends. They are the rice farmers, truly the backbone of Thai civilization, yet are treated unfortunately a lot of times as second class citizens. They have their own language, cuisine, looks, and culture. In fact many consider Isarn to be a totally different country within the borders of Thailand.

So why the cultural lesson? Why is this important, and why am I not talking about Thai solar power? Well lets get to the advantages of this ambitious project.

1. If you watched the news last year (April, 2010), you undoubtedly saw stories about mass protests in Bangkok, where to the horror of the kingdoms people, many of the protesters were slaughtered in attempts to disperse the crowds from the richest tourist areas of Bangkok. As the back story to this is extremely long and convoluted I will not attempt to explain it here. However what you should know is the protesters mainly consisted of poor rice farmers from the Isarn region. It is plain to see that this type of civil unrest is due to the thankless and extremely hard life these people deal with on a daily basis, while of course the rich get richer on their blood and sweat. Yeah, alright this is basically the same in every nation, well, if you actually were to see these farms, and talk to the Isarn about what they actually make per year, I am sure you would see the difference in quality of life the Isarn “enjoy”. So whats my point?

1. A project like this will be able to grant many people from this region with decent paying jobs. Not only that, it will also grant these people technology jobs, where hopefully, schooling will be provided to employees. The region will be looked upon in a different light from the rest of the country, as it will be providing clean and cheap energy to the rest of the kingdom. It will also give the people of Isarn something to be proud of.

2. The solar farms and their roughly one million solar modules will contribute 204-megawatts of clean alternative energy to a country that is listed as the 23rd largest energy consuming nation in the world, as well as ranking in the top 25 countries for largest carbon emissions. The energies generated from just this project is enough power to supply 170,000 Thai households.

3. Thailand has adopted a plan to have 20% of there annual power consumption to be generated by clean alternative energies by 2022. Will they be able to do this? I really cannot say, as I believe at the moment 1% of energy is generated from solar power installations as we speak. However the Thai people are an industrious, and efficient people. If the Kyocera solar farm project is any indicator of the future for solar power in Thailand, they very well may be able to reach their goal.

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Thailand’s Alternative Energy Renaissance

Posted on January 31, 2011 by eliwagar1

Hello all, and greetings from Bangkok.

Yes that’s right, while all my friends are suffering in the cold and snow back home in Minnesota, I am on my annual trip to Thailand. Sorry guys, hope the furnaces are working well. But today I am not here just to gloat, but to talk a little bit about the progress Thailand is having with their solar power initiatives.

If any of you have been to Thailand before then you will most likely agree with me on the fact that this country does not sleep. As the sweltering days turn to dusk the lights, oh my god, the lights turn on. A feast for the eyes, and as I consume delectable street food, the countries energy needs in turn consume the massive amounts of energy needed to sustain this very special way of life the Thai’s have developed.

So where is all this energy coming from anyways? Well at the moment 70% of energy consumed is generated from natural gas. Less than 5% is coming from alternative energies such as hydro, or solar based power. This is bad for a number of reasons. For one, to have that much energy dependence upon a single source is very risky, as there is a large cost to considered from importing natural gas from Laos, China, and other surrounding countries, not to mention the amount of energy needed to transport natural gas. Also Thailand is lovely, the people friendly, but the air…. well the air quality is definitely not the best in the world to say the least. Motorbikes zooming past at high speed, and the traffic, LA your rush hour got nothing on Bangkok, not to mention the sickening slash and burn farming techniques the government employs in the north. When the very poor air quality in a city of nearly 12 million people is 3 times cleaner then out in the middle of nowhere high up in the mountains near the golden triangle, well you know slash and burn techniques are risky and dangerous to say the least. While natural gas is admittedly less of a pollution emitter than coal, it is still adding to the massive carbon footprint that is Thailand.

Thailand is not the 3rd world country a lot of people think it is back in the states. In fact it is establishing itself as one of the worlds new economic powerhouses. Baht, the Thai currency is the strongest in the world right now, right alongside the Japanese yen. Thailand is no longer the hippy hangout is was 20 years ago. Bangkok itself holds many technological innovations and is revamping itself as an ultra modern city with new skyscrapers being erected daily. Seriously, the cityscape changes with the blink of an eye. An interesting city, yet the Thai are smart, they know with more economic power comes greater responsibility, and this next month I will be talking about the massive solar power installations that are being incorporated into the country as we speak. What the Thai want for the future of their country, and how they mean to achieve this. And how alternative sources of energy are being implemented at both public and private levels.

So stay tuned for my next post, it should be quite interesting, as for me, well, like I said I’m on vacation. I think I’ll go and eat some Som Tum (Thai Papaya Salad). See you soon!

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