There was a point in time when the solar industry was considered dead money. It was too expensive, too inefficient, and too inconsistent to be a viable (切实可行的) alternative energy source for really anything, let alone your home or office.
But those days are long gone.
Solar energy costs have dropped more than 70% over the past 10 years, and are now cheaper than fossil fuels in most parts of the United States. Better yet, the drivers of these cost declines — economies of scale (规模经济) and technological improvements — are durable (耐久的) , and therefore, solar is only going to get even cheaper. Indeed, these forces are so powerful in the solar industry that they have their own law — Swanson’s Law — which states that the price of solar modules (模块) decreases by about 20% for every doubling in global solar capacity.
Meanwhile, solar panels have become very efficient at transforming light from the sun into usable energy. Back in 1992, researchers at the University of South Florida made a thin-film solar cell with 15.9% efficiency — and that was considered a breakthrough at the time.
These days, though, your average silicon solar cells’ efficiency rate is around 20%. That’s standard. And some research efforts have even managed to achieve near 50% efficiency in certain lab tests.
At the same time, these solar systems have become dramatically more consistent. One of the biggest hurdles for solar in the early 2000s was its intermittency — the sun doesn’t shine every day, so what do you do when its cloudy?
Well, that’s why the clean energy industry has developed energy storage solutions, which are basically just big batteries that homeowners and office building managers can install on-site and link to their solar panels to store excess (过度的) solar power on super sunny days, and use that power on cloudy days.
Cheapest. Most efficient. Most consistent. That’s a powerful combination. No wonder solar industry has accounted for 58% of all new energy capacity additions so far in 2021 and is only going to get stronger and more active over the next 10 years — to a point where, by 2030, I wouldn’t be surprised to see solar industry accounting for 90%+ of all new energy capacity additions.
12. Which of the following is closely related to solar energy costs according to the Swanson’s Law?
A.Technological improvements. | B.The efficiency. |
C.Economic growth. | D.The capacity. |
13. Why have the energy storage solutions been developed?
A.To lower the solar panel costs. |
B.To ensure consistent power supply. |
C.To reduce solar energy waste. |
D.To generate electricity on cloudy days. |
14. What is the author’s attitude towards the future of the solar industry?
A.Doubtful. | B.Confident. |
C.Uncaring. | D.Disapproving. |
15. What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.What Advantages the Solar Energy Has? |
B.How We Humans Can Fully Use the Solar energy? |
C.Why the Solar Industry Is the Future of Earth’s Energy? |
D.When the Solar Industry Will Become Our New Energy Capacity Additions? |