![](\"http:\/\/www.greentechmedia.com\/content\/images\/articles\/Top-Ten-Waynes-World.jpg\")
<\/a>\nGreentechsolar has an interesting article 28 Sep 2011 on\n<\/a>\nGreentechsolar has an interesting article 28 Sep 2011 on\n\nTop 10 Reasons Why Renewable Energy Wins<\/a>.\nin which is a top 10 list for solar.\nHere are some excerpts:\n\n\n
- \nA job is a job is a job.\n
\nWith all this talk about green jobs, clean jobs, and other kinds of jobs\n— how about we just call it a job? A job that puts food on the table,\npays the bills, keeps the kids in clothes, and affords the occasional\nfamily night out. And, if you subscribe to the belief that all is lost due\nto the Chinese PV manufacturing juggernaut, keep in mind that you can\u2019t\nexport the thousands of business development, sales, design, engineering,\ninstallation, and service jobs we\u2019re going to need every year.\n<\/blockquote>\nWhy not just say \njobs, jobs, jobs?<\/a>\nBecause solar also doesn’t pollute the air and doesn’t suck up\nground water.\nNot just jobs: clean jobs that don’t drain our resources.\n\nBut opinion only matters if the data supports it. Solar is one of the only\nindustries adding private sector jobs in our struggling economy — with\n6.8 percent growth from August 2010 to August 2011, when overall U.S. job\ngrowth was only 0.7 percent and when fossil fuel generators actually cut\njobs by 2 percent. It\u2019s estimated the United States already has over\n90,000 direct and indirect jobs in the manufacturing and installation\nof solar panels. That\u2019s more than in either steel production or coal\nmining (not including transportation and power plant employment).\n<\/blockquote>\nYes, while road and bridge building projects may bring in a few temporary\nconstruction jobs, solar brings construction jobs plus all sorts\nof other jobs plus long-term jobs.\nLong-term jobs in the fastest-growing industry in the world:\n\n\n\n\n
- \nFastest growing sector of the economy. Growth is a good for everyone.\n
\nU.S. solar photovoltaic installation increased by an impressive average\nannual rate of 64 percent between 2005 and 2010, with over 70 percent of\nthe value of solar products and installations produced here at home. Solar\nis already up and delivering in 21 states, representing two-thirds of\nAmerica’s population.\n<\/blockquote>\nPeople around here seem to be having trouble getting this point:\nFastest Growing Sector of the Economy.\nWhat else do you see with a 64% annual growth rate right through\nthe recession?\n\n\n
- \nThe voters are ahead of the politicians and the media.\n
\nDespite what you hear from political ideologues and read about in the\nnews, Americans want more homegrown, renewable, clean energy. They want\nit not only because it will make the air they breathe cleaner, but\nbecause they know that competition for their money is a good thing and\nthat economic growth will come with the continued growth of a homegrown\nindustry. Americans are also tired of borrowing money from China to\npay for energy we import from many countries that are not our friends.\n<\/blockquote>\nIn North Carolina, which has been more organized about solar for a while now,\n\n91% of the voters want more solar<\/a>.\nWhat else do you see 91% of the voters anywhere agreeing on?\n\n
\n\n
- \nIt is about prices.\n
\nSolar energy is already affordable in many states and cities. A\nnew report by Lawrence Berkeley Labs (LBL) shows how rapidly solar\nprices are falling. In its analysis, LBL shows that the average cost of\ninstalled solar photovoltaic was $6.20\/watt for systems installed in 2010,\nfalling 17 percent from 2009 and 43 percent below 1998. Prices fell an\nadditional 11 percent from 2010 to the first half of 2011. Since 2008,\npanel prices alone have declined 61 percent, with 30 percent of this\nreduction happening this year. Large commercial rooftops systems are\nnow being installed for less than $3 per watt DC — approaching the\nSunShot goals set by DOE only this year.\n\nSo in case you\u2019ve missed it, \u201csolar past does not equal solar\npresent.\u201d Solar is rapidly reaching the point where it competes with\ntraditional energy on price — even without the kind of taxpayer subsidies\nthat coal and natural gas have received for decades.\n<\/blockquote>\nIt’s called \nMoore’s Law<\/a>, which means price drops by half over a more or less\nfixed period of time.\nThis is the same law that now has a computer in your pocket (your smartphone)\nthat is far more powerful than computers that filled a room a few decades ago,\nand more powerful than desktop machines of only a few years ago.\nThe price drop for solar isn’t quite that fast, but it appears that\n\nGE’s prediction of solar becoming cheaper than fossil fuels or nuclear\nin three to five years<\/a> may turn out to be pessimistic.\n
\n\n
- \nFollow the (private) money.\n
\nEven in a struggling economy, the clean energy industry drew a record\n$7.8 billion in venture capital worldwide in 2010, a 28 percent increase\ncompared to 2009. Seventy percent of that world total was invested right\nhere in North America. Solar alone received more than 30 percent of\nU.S. clean tech venture capital in the first quarter of 2011, indicating\na maturing industry that is expected to continue growing.\n<\/blockquote>\nLocal dogmatists complaining about grant money are almost irrelevant,\nbecause most of the real money for solar is coming from private sources.\nPrivate sources in it for the profit.\n\nAnd that’s only reasons 10 through 6!\n
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