Solar Energy Costs
The price of energy is beginning to become a very substantial challenge for the common household, with the price of crude, coal, and natural gas increasing at an alarming rate. With all of these regular energies going up it is intriguing to note that the cost of solar energy keeps getting cheaper and cheaper.
You might find yourself asking why the energy bill costs is going up so much, and really there are a number of reasons why.
For one you need to take into account that the cost of regular energy is calculated from a myriad of factors. A significant driving force of the cost is placed on the availability of resources, and the fuel that is needed in order to transmute the resource into energy. We also need to take into consideration the cost of the power needed to generate the resource such as mining or drilling and then the transportation of the resources.
So lets add some more factors to the mix shall we, did you know that there are off-peak and off-peak periods? This means that you will be charged more for the same amount of power during high demand seasons and times of the day.
Every year the cost of fossil fuels become more costly, and the difficulty of gathering them increases as well. These fuels are also horrible for the environment. Also worth note is that clean coal sounds a lot more attractive due to it’s name then it really is. It’s still coal, and it still exudes, yes less pollution, but still a lot.
Not to mention that people are dying in coal mining accidents, poisoning due to toxic elements such as mercury, and the corporations just keep blowing the tops off of amazing mountains just to make a quick buck off you and me.
As far as outward appearances go, coal is an incredibly cheap means of power creation. But that’s before we include the many deaths and sickness contributed to coal, the poisoning of the water supply, and the many other detrimental effects created by this cheap source of energy.
The cost to create nuclear energy is also increasing. Next generation nuclear plants will cost much more than initially believed.
These new generation plants are going to cost from 5 to 12 billion per plant. Not to mention that the expenses of the actual power generation will will most likely be 25-30 cents/KWH.
This is about the same price that energy produced from wind was in the 1980’s, today it is much less expensive depending on the area where you live.
Energy companies realize this is costing us huge sums of money and resources, but why would they care, the system is set up in their favor, the more of our money they waste the more they profit
There are better ways, the cost of solar power is still more than coal and nuclear, however the fact is that the price of photo voltaic energy is decreasing while the price of standard power generation is increasing. Also, setting up a home photo voltaic energy system is a excellent way to offset the price of buying energy from a provider.
Especially considering there are lots of state and government programs that offer you incentives and tax credits to use this kind of power generation.
Also if you are into DIY projects and would like to make your very own photo voltaic panels or a solar home heating system, there are a lot of guides on the web. They are low cost, fun to make, and are actually quite simpler to construct than you probably think they are. Tell your kids to turn off the TV and do something fun together.