Today I am excited to get to dive into another wonderful reason to go Solar! While solar has risen greatly in popularity over the last decade, it has been advancing for over 60 years! Today we are going to talk about how the solar industry has advance, and how that has impacted the cost of going solar!
A brief history
Solar panels and solar technology has come a long way since the first solar cell was created in the 1800s. Yet even more stunning is the rapid advancement we have seen over the last 60 years, efficiency has risen from 14 % to now upward to the mid to upper 20% range at the average today, most of which took place in the last 10 years! Currently there is research and development on panels that would see double or triple even that amount of efficiency.
Why does the efficacy matter?
When they created the first solar cell it has less than one percent efficiency, essentially meaning it was useless. Yet the potential was there to harness solar energy. But what are we talking about when we talk efficiency? A basic way of putting it is that efficiency is the measuring of how much of the solar energy that hits that panel can be converted into electricity. It’s incredible that the major increase (over 10%) has occurred over the last 10 years! Solar energy today is at its most efficient point to date, which has made it an increasingly viable option for homeowners looking to switch!
Efficiency in the technology in solar panels also mean a longer lifespan of a unit and increased durability!
Better & Cheaper
This is what I find to be even more interesting, that while the quality of the solar panels increases, the price is actually coming down to much more affordable rates!
Now this is not the sort of correlation we expect in our current economy, in fact it seems as everything else advances, prices go up as well! But the solar industry has done this differently through innovation and advancement in the process of creating the solar systems. More efficient manufacturing decreases the cost per system, effectively costing the homeowners less. The price in just over 10 years has dropped from $8 range to the $2-$3 range per watt.
We are seeing the best efficiency and the most affordable pricing for solar right now! And with the uncertainty in economy and everything else, who can say if the cost will stay so low? In my opinion in terms of efficiency and price: now is the time to get your solar system, “to strike while the iron is hot!”
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