QUICK NEWS, October 1: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN WRONG ON THE PRICE OF SOLAR; TRACKING THE GROWTH OF EV CHARGERS

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN WRONG ON THE PRICE OF SOLAR Can Solar Power Be Cheap? New technologies will be needed for photovoltaics to become cheap

David Biello, September 30, 2013 (Scientific American)

“…The primary ingredient of most solar panels is purified sand…[and enough] sunlight hits the Earth in an hour to provide all of humanity's energy needs for a year…[But] solar power [isn’t] cheap and abundan…[because] building a device capable of turning incoming photons into electricity isn't cheap…[and] installation and the cost of a solar system can still be more than $10 per watt of electricity produced…Of course, if all energy sources paid their full price, solar would be more competitive…If the health and environmental costs of coal or natural gas were included in their prices, suddenly solar might look a whole lot cheaper…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet

TRACKING THE GROWTH OF EV CHARGERS Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Tracker 3Q13; Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Infrastructure Installations by Technology, Accessibility, U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Area, and World Region

3Q 2013 (Navigant Researh)

“Growing sales of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in select regions worldwide have fueled the creation of the commercial electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) infrastructure industry…[I]nnovative business models and practices are emerging to make the industry more streamlined, user friendly, and cost-effective…[like the] Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP), a communications standard developed in Europe that allows PEV owners to use service networks of which they are not subscribers…[and] charging optimization software and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies…Navigant Research estimates that as of 3Q 2013, there are just under 64,000 publicly accessible charging stations installed globally…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet