Solar’s Future is Insanely Cheap (2020)
14 May, 2020
This is part 1 of a series where I’ll look at the future costs of clean energy and mobility technologies. This is a refresh of and expansion of my 2015 series on the future of solar, wind, batteries, and electric vehicles. Tune back in for…
R e a d M o r eWe Can Push For Progress at the State Level
10 Nov, 2016
Donald Trump won. The GOP has the Senate and the House. They’re likely to retain the Senate in 2018. Trump will get to appoint at least one, and probably multiple Supreme Court justices, with a (presumably) friendly Senate. Yet we live in a republic. And…
R e a d M o r eWind Power Blowing More Reliably Than Ever
17 Aug, 2016
New wind turbines produce power more steadily – with less up and down intermittency – than ever before. As I wrote in August of last year, NREL believes that next-generation wind turbines can reach a capacity factor of 60%. That is up from a capacity…
R e a d M o r eHow Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get?
12 Apr, 2016
This is part 5 of a series looking at the economic trends of new energy technologies. Part 1 looked at how cheap solar can get (very cheap indeed). Part 2 looked at the declining cost and rising reliability of wind power. Part 3 looked at…
R e a d M o r eHow Far Can Renewables Go? Pretty Darn Far
31 Jan, 2016
This is part 4 of a series looking at the economic trends of new energy technologies. Part 1 looked at how cheap solar can get (very cheap indeed). Part 2 looked at the declining cost and rising reliability of wind power. Part 3 looked at…
R e a d M o r eHow Cheap Can Energy Storage Get? Pretty Darn Cheap
14 Oct, 2015
This is part 3 of a series looking at the economic trends of new energy technologies. Part 1 looked at how cheap solar can get (very cheap indeed). Part 2 looked at the declining cost and rising reliability of wind power. Part 3, below, talks…
R e a d M o r eHow Steady Can Wind Power Blow?
30 Aug, 2015
This is part 2 of a series looking at the economic trends of new energy technologies. Part 1 looked at how cheap solar can get (very cheap indeed). Part 3 looks at how cheap energy storage can get (pretty darn cheap). Part 4 looks at…
R e a d M o r eHow Cheap Can Solar Get? Very Cheap Indeed
10 Aug, 2015
This is part 1 of a series looking at the economic trends of new energy technologies. Part 2 looks at the dropping price and increasing reliability of wind power. Part 3 looks at how cheap energy storage can get (pretty darn cheap). Part 4 looks…
R e a d M o r eNew Solar Capacity Factor in the US is Now ~30%
9 Aug, 2015
The capacity factor of new utility scale solar deployed in the US in 2010 was 24%. By 2012 it had risen to roughly 30%. The rising capacity factor of new solar projects is part of why the cost of electricity from new solar is dropping…
R e a d M o r eSolar Cost Less than Half of What EIA Projected
30 Jun, 2015
Skeptics of renewables sometimes cite data from EIA (The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration) or from the IEA (the OECD’s International Energy Agency). The IEA has a long history of underestimating solar and wind that I think is starting to be understood. The US…
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