This looks like a stunt or a fake video or something, but apparently it’s not. A Brazilian bicyclist was minding his own business when a guy driving a truck (quite fast, I might add) saw the bicyclist at the last minute, swerved, and delivered a mattress to the bicyclists backside… after the mattress swooped in [...]
Biker Lands On Mattress After Bike Knocked Out From Under Him By Said Mattress was originally published on Bikocity.
BMW is considered to be one of the major auto manufacturers that is more bullish about electric vehicles. It has built the BMW i3 and BMW i8 from the ground up, and it has already stated that it plans to have electric versions of all of its models. Recently, BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer said they were […]
BMW Aims For 100,000 Electric Vehicles Per Year By 2020, Compared To Tesla’s 500,000 & Nissan/Renault’s 1.5 Million was originally published on EV Obsession.
Originally published on Cost of Solar.
The second definition of “insanity” in Google is, “Extreme foolishness or irrationality.” Unfortunately, that definition actually applies to more of what we do and don’t do than we probably want to admit. With extreme insanity, a key thing those of us observing the insanity from the outside tend to notice is that the insane action is done repeatedly. The same insane thing is done over and over and over again, and sometimes the insane person even expects to somehow get a different result despite plenty of experience showing that he or she won’t. It can be quite difficult to watch, and its certainly not a recommended way of life.
You may now be wondering, “What the hell is this guy talking about? Isn’t this site about solar power? Is he insane?” So, let’s get to the solar power part of this.
Earth as we know it… sort of. (Photo Credit: spdorsey | CC BY-NC-ND)
We are actually engaging in very extreme foolishness and irrationality as a society, as we are destroying the climate that makes this world livable for our species (and many others). There aren’t many planets out there that have a climate in which life can exist… actually, we’re yet to find a single one. But we are altering ours in such a way that this highly comfortable climate could disintegrate, so to speak, and become unlivable.
The good news is that we already have the solutions we need to solve this problem. One critical thing we need to do in order to solve this problem is cut the global warming pollution created from producing electricity. And that’s one of the key advantages of solar power. Creating electricity using solar panels doesn’t create any global warming pollution.
Want to keep this? Think about it. (Photo Credit: IronRodArt – Royce Bair (“Star Shooter”) | CC BY-NC-ND)
One wonderful thing about this solution is that so many of us can participate in this one. Have a roof? Go solar! It would be insane not to.
We have been burning and burning coal and natural gas. We have identified that this is warming our world. And we have identified that this warming could wreak havoc on our civilization, and could even destroy the livability of this planet. And yet, we keep burning and burning coal and natural gas. Insane. It’s time to go solar, and anyone who can do so should really be involved in solving this crisis.
Unfortunately, the whole “save the planet that we need in order to survive as a species” thing doesn’t seem to have enough power behind it for many of us. Perhaps it’s just too abstract and hard to grasp while the climate is still in fairly good shape. Perhaps it’s just not our priority while we wrestle with other issues. We will just have to face more extreme hurricanes, more extreme droughts and wildfires, more extreme floods, quickly rising food prices, and so on… no big deal.
However, there is one thing that never seems to fail to get our attention — money. And that’s one of the other big advantages of solar power. Right now, almost all electricity is delivered to us from utilities that are nearly monopolies. We don’t have a lot of control over the massive amount of money we send to them. It’s “good” that we send it on a monthly basis, at least — can you imagine if you had to pay it all at the end of the year like with taxes?
But here’s the thing. We get into the habit of sending our money to the electric companies month after month and slowly begin to just stop paying attention to that action. We get into the habit and consider it a normal part of life that we all have to go through. However, all of us don’t have to go through it. Some of us generate our own electricity through solar panels. And many others cut into that bill so much through solar power systems that it frees up tens of thousands of dollars. (Seriously, over $20,000 is the average in the US!)
Average 20-year savings from going solar in US = over $20,000. Over $30,000 in several states, and over $60,000 in Hawaii. (Image Credit: Cost of Solar)
This is one of the big advantages of solar power, and one of the advantages that seems to most influence people to finally break their insane habit of sending money to electric companies (to pollute our world).
And why wouldn’t it? Who would pass up saving tens of thousands of dollars and cutting about 1/3 of their global warming emissions?
In the end, many of us have a fairly simple choice:
Get solar power on our home and/or business, help the planet, and benefit financially.
or
Continue sending our money to electric companies to make a handsome profit on our insanity while polluting the planet.
Sanity vs insanity. Your choice.
Choose wisely. (Photo Credit: . Entrer dans le rêve | CC BY-NC-SA)
Advantages of Solar Energy > Insanity was originally published on Solar Love!.
Originally published on Cost of Solar.
Where does the energy we need, animals need, and plants need come from? Largely, it just comes from the sun. Plants use solar energy to grow and develop, and animals and humans then get that energy from plants. It’s an amazing thing that we generally don’t give much thought to.
Interestingly, a similar thing we don’t give much attention to is that the fuel we use to create electricity and to power our vehicles also essentially comes from the same source. Fossilized remains of plants and animals are burnt in order to create our electricity and move our cars and planes forward.
Does all this get you thinking? It certainly got me thinking….
When it comes to energy, the bottom line is, solar energy is the motherload. The sun is the mother of our gigantic energy supplies. Many people who have reflected on this have seen that solar energy is the most promising source of energy in the long term (and, increasingly, in the medium and short term). As a 1931 quotation from Thomas Edison on the bottom of this website states, “I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”
Unfortunately for Mr. Edison, we have probably waited quite a bit too long. But at least we are getting to it now!
Beyond general reflection, check out this fascinating chart below regarding the potential of solar energy compared to other commons sources of energy. But before doing so, pay attention to this very important note: solar energy potential and energy potential shown for the other renewable energy resources is annual potential, while the energy potential shown for the fossil fuel resources is total recoverable reserves.
Image Source: Perez & Perez, 2009a
Yep, solar energy really is the motherload.
So, the question is, what have we been waiting for? Well, we had to develop a technology that could efficiently and cost-effectively capture that solar energy and turn it into electricity. Luckily, we’ve now been able to develop such technology, and solar panels are so ridiculously cheap now (after years of rapid cost drops) that the average American who goes solar now saves over $20,000 over 20 years from doing so.
Perhaps it’s time to do the obvious and put your money on solar energy… just as Thomas Edison would have done if he were alive today. At the very least, get a quote in order to see how much you could save by going solar today.
Join the US solar power rooftop revolution!
Renewable Energy Sources — 1 Important Chart was originally published on Solar Love!.
Some top green news from CleanTechnica and Planetsave today: [wp-rss-aggregator]
I recently figured out electric vehicle market share for 17 European countries, the US, and Japan for an ABB Conversations article I wrote (full disclosure: I am compensated by ABB for articles written on that site). The results are very interesting, in my opinion, so I figured I’d drop the charts in here as well. […]
EV Market Share Leaders (Top Countries For EV Market Share) was originally published on EV Obsession.
There’s no denying it — the Dutch electric vehicle market is an interesting one. There was a surge in plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) sales at the end of 2013 because of an expiring incentive for PHEVs. Nonetheless, PHEVs continue to dominate Dutch EV sales. In both January and now February the Volvo V60 PHEV […]
The Curious Case of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles In The Netherlands (February Sales Report) was originally published on EV Obsession.
After a month down at #3, the Renault Zoe (205 sales) rebounded to its normal position at #1 in France. Not far behind is the Renault Kangoo ZE (173 sales). The Zoe and Kangoo ZE sat high above all other vehicles in 2013. They look set for such dominat…
Electric car supercountry Norway continued to go strong in February. Trumping the 1216 electric car sales it had in January, it added 1574 in February. Again, the Nissan Leaf topped the charts. Tesla Model S sales rebounded to put it pretty close behin…
Again, like Italy, Spain isn’t exactly blowing up in electric car sales. But as they say: you have to start somewhere. As in Germany, the BMW i3 has jumped to the top of the tables in Spain. Two much smaller electric cars, the smart electric drive and Renault Twizy tie for second (with a whopping […]
BMW i3 Takes Crown In Spain (February 2014 Electric Car Sales Report) was originally published on EV Obsession.
