There’s no more silicon shortage. Plenty of governments (even if our own is an exception currently) are heavily funding solar R&D. So why, in the year 2008, is solar still not cost-competitive with traditional energy sources? This question has riddled a major solar convention, held for the first time in North America this year and wrapping up tomorrow. Intersolar North America, like most of these events, offers both a trade show and industry conference to reach everyone from passers-by who might wander into the exhibitor hall, to industry veterans looking to attend in-depth workshops and network with their international peers. The opening remarks of the show, held in San Francisco, addressed the cost issue immediately. Unfortunately, no one had answers. As one well-informed attendee pointed out, as quoted in the San Francisco chronicle, “That’s the $64,000 question…The entire industry understands we need to get competitive with the cost of fossil fuels.”
We could use some international inspiration. The 209 exhibitors registered for the San Francisco show can sure fill an exhibition hall; but at this past June’s Intersolar Europe, held in Munich, a staggering 1,050 exhibitors participated. This was more than double the number that registered for the same show last year, but the San Francisco attendees would have to quintuple to match those kinds of numbers by next year. It’s true that the European show hosted members of over 40 nations, and perhaps that’s a bit extreme to expect on our side of the pond. But the gaping difference does point, I think, to what remains the basic problem with solar in America: no one’s doing it. If Americans started demanding solar as an option to the same extent Europeans have, maybe that would give the industry the push it seems to need to go from “building momentum” to “has so much momentum it kind of can’t stop and will just have to go over rather than around the pesky coal plant in its way.”
Yes, folks on the two coasts–primarily California and New England residents–are pursuing residential solar, and utility-scale solar is becoming increasingly popular in the Southwest despite legislative setbacks. And of course there are the lone wolves looking for solar who happen to live in Michigan or Texas, and with the cost of fuel, it’s no wonder. But solar still has not achieved the kind of momentum that it has in Europe, either large scale or small. We’re still pushing every step of the way, fighting for government assists and recognition, educating on very small levels–in communities where a solar plant is going up, neighbors asking Joe Solar what those strange things are on his roof–and while this is excellent in its own way, it doesn’t achieve the kind of large-scale dissemination of information that would help more Americans realize how possible it is for them to incorporate solar into their homes. Even if photovoltaics is out of the price range for many middle class families, solar hot water shouldn’t be. We’ve had national campaigns to raise water conservation awareness, forest fire safety awareness, Energy Star ratings awareness, ozone hole awareness, tap water safety awareness. Maybe it’s time we had one for renewable energy awareness.
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