Solar economics

Here's a new report on the economics of solar power generation. This chart is unique in that it shows where and how solar will be an economically attractive option. Specifically, this chartshows us how and when solar will be a significant factor. If you haven't checked out Grist before, I highly recommend it for environmental discussion with an economics awareness. (h/t Sully)

Why am I doing this blog?

I've worked in this industry for many years, but have also been an environmentalist at heart. Not a crazy, tree-hugger, but one who looks for economic solutions to green problems. The Nature Conservancy was my first environmental charity. So what does that have to do with Green Light?

The logo for this site is the photopic response curve, that is the response of the human eye to light. As our world gets faster and more information dense, we need our eyes more and more because it is the highest bandwidth connection to the brain. Photonic technologies work at the intersection of photons and electrons, creating one from the other depending on need. Typcially, these technologies work in solid-state modes, meaning that there is negligible waste heat produced and the light generated can be very efficient. There are other technologies such as electric discharge and plasma techniques that can do some of the things I will discuss, and ultimately they will have a place in our need to achieve sustainability, but I will focus here on solid-state technologies.

Photonics and optoelectronics impact every facet of our lives. These technologies provide light, both useful and artistic. They provide power from photovoltaic technologies. They provide information display in computers and signs as well as entertainment in televisions and projection systems. And they tie all this information together with wicked fast fiber-optic lines carrying terabits of information. As time goes on, photonics will provide interconnections between chip, and ultimately interconnections between processing units on a single chip. And as the world goes more information intense, the use of these technologies will grow geometrically.

Some of these technologies are just being adopted but are inherently 'green'. Solid state lighting can produce white light today with the efficiency of flourescent bulbs, with a continued improvement curve that will probably double that efficiency in 10 years. Solar photovoltaic technology today can convert about 20% of the sun's energy to electricity. What limits adoption of these technologies are economic concerns, not technological ones. Can the economic problems be solved technologically? Sometimes.

What is clear: the grid power drawn by lighting, display, and communications is growing quickly in an information economy. Lighting alone is ~20% of electrical demand. New computer and router installations are being measured in 10s of megawatts, enough power for a small city. And the use of these technologies has not been optimal for efficiency. One example, the average LCD flatpanel today only transmits 7% of the light generated by its backlight unit to the user's eye.

It is time for this industry to start to consider both the economic and technological impediments and progress to enable sustainable, economically attractive solutions. I hope to highlight developments, data, and discussion about using photonics and optoelectronics technologies to advance the 'green revolution'.