Solar Panels Prices?

Question

I am a strong believer of solar power. Why are they so expensive? I'm am not going to pay 15-30 thousand dollars for them I cant afford them. Also, Does Al Gore have solar power? How about the rest of the Hollywood and Political activists? Are the rich or wealthy doing there part in buying solar or wind? How do we bring down the cost of solar panels? As they get more popular they get more expensive.

Answer 1

They are expensive because they are not mass produced and till recently people were not aware of solar PV panels. Now there is a sudden demand and supply is much shorter.

Even then the prices are going down and every year there is a downward trend, at the current rate pretty soon we will see cheaper solar panels within next few years, you will have to wait till then.

You can use solar water heaters and cookers though , these are cheap and have very fast payback and high efficiency.

Answer 2

First the oil companies are are controlling the price of solar panels. The oil companies OWN or control 80% or more of the manufacturing companies who supply solar panels.

MOST ARE MADE CHEAP IN CHINA  AND SOLD FOR A LARGE PROFIT IN THE US

The other reason is the law of unintended consequences

If you put laws or tax incentives or rebates on a product the price will go up because the companies know they can get more money. while the user pay the same or less.

A well rounded system requires a mix of solar and wind

on most days that the sun does not shine you will find the wind blows (stormy days)  Plus the wind may blow at night.

A mixed system of about 1/3 solar and 2/3 wind will give you twice the power in watts as a system of just solar.

And if you can build your own wind turban a lot cheaper.

http://www.scoraigwind.com/

Answer 3

I'm also a strong believer in solar but like you said its to expensive. Check out this company. I think you would be interested in what they have to offer.

http://www.jointhesolution.com/therising...

Answer 4

yes unfortunatly the abundance of oil has made the solar market negligable and slow to react.

Now shortage of oil and global warming is causing the industries to catch up.

30 years ago to light a light bulb with solar panels would cost you 15-30 dollars.

There is actually a huge market in rich people buying into peniless alternative energy companies as they are expected to boom and some are on to some technologies that are here to save the world in the nick of time and are set to aim at the third world to provide the 90% of the world that has no access to electricity at all.

For example in Melbourne Geelong about an hour drive from me a man built a wind turbine that is about 1.5 long and .5 tall and makes no noise and is only about 3-4 thousand.

He was set to roll them out in his own company but Exxon Mobil Oil stepped in and bought the pantents off him and now he is in behamas rich enough no one has heard from him or his wind turbine since

Now Mobil is selling these turbines (called the Hush turbine) to the world and world is awaiting its arrival in the market by next year.

I have seen one working and they are great and I think there is no reason why every home will not be able to have one installed at an affordable price (The govt. is going to be subsidising it)

There is a huge commercial and government push for this technology. You can now even insulate your home by using paint additives used to insulate rockets from NASA.

Also set next year is 10,000 generators that the world is awaiting set to be released in Britan that will provide the world with electricity and heating from gas cheaper than the grid, so cheap that the electricity will be fed back into the grid and the users will make money.

So be set to uptake the right technology as even the rich are having to make serious gambles on the renewable energy industry like the computer boom not everyone came out winners but the industry moved so rapidly now you can get computers in the size of your hand retail 10 years ago

you would have to sell your home to buy and people still thought computers would not be widely available and used.