The need for speed when it comes to solar

This afternoon I decided to do a quick calculation as to how long it might take for our present crop of solar installers to make an impact on residential energy use in NC.  What I found was, well, you’ll see…

According to the US Census, there were 4,258,625 homes in NC in 2009: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37000.html. To make just 1% of those homes solar would require 42,586 installs.

As of July 3, 2011, the NC Solar Center directory lists 308 solar PV professionals in NC: http://www.greenprofessionals.org/site/profd/public/browse.cfm. That’s 42,586 installs/308 = 138 installs per professional.

Now do the math: if your company can do 1.5 installs a week and you have 138 installs, that’s 207 weeks or 4 years of installs.

That’s 4 years of installs per solar PV professional, if just 1% of NC households have solar PV installed.

There are fewer solar companies than solar professionals in NC, so that’s actually more than 4 yrs of installs/company if just 1% of NC homes have solar. We’ll just stick to 4% to keep things simpler.

Now for the kicker…assume just 10% of NC homes are good for solar PV. How long to do them all? If it takes 4 years per solar professional to do 1% of all the homes, it has to take 40 years per each of those same solar professionals to do 10% of the homes.

Let me reiterate…that’s 40 years per each of the 308 solar professionals to install PV on just 10% of NC homes! Where are we going to get enough people?

Bottom line…there is plenty of solar business out there. We actually need bigger companies, more people, more help if we are going to get solar on enough homes to usher in any kind of transition to clean, renewable energy by 2050.

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