The fact is solar energy is more often used as a supplement power source only. Few individuals can shell out the big up front costs for something that will hardly pay for itself over a decade or more, and most sytems can only be used during the day (unless you have an "off the grid" system - meaning battery backups).
Many subcontractors out there will gladly hook you up, but alot use a "lease" system which means financially your screwed if you want to buy the system. They wo'nt provide service or replacements. and it is connected to the grid so you only generate power during the daytime. If you want battery backups tied to your system, you need to go "off the grid" rather than these leased grid systems, which present the issue of having a well ventilated battery storage area and the price tag for very good batteries.
The majority of the "solar" market for the everyday person is for landcape lights, recharged during the day miscellaneous lighting for mail boxes, pathways, garage, night lights, etc.
There's been some market penetration for states in parks, buss benches, emergency call phones.
But by and large you don't find the big power plants. Mainly because they take up real estate and have the same transmission line issues (medically) as wind farms do.
If you look at the majority of where our electricity comes form it is coal and oil. Alternative energy sources have been a small fraction of the picture and remain so.......even after dumping tons of money down that hole for decades.
Nasa uses solar power.
In most of North America, solar power rarely pays for itself without government subsidies. People who believe they do, often do not know how to do a proper internal rate of return calculation on their investments. If you compare the cost per kilowatt hour, solar power costs about 38 cents a kwh whereas coal is typically between 1 cent to 3 cents a kwh. Without government subsidies, you lose money with solar so it only makes sense in remote areas where grid power is expensive or unreliable.
As to being friendly to the environment, if you take the carbon impact of refining the materials and manufacturing the panels, as well as the pollution produced in their manufacture, solar power is not the great environment saver either. It's really still a bit of a green wash for those who would buy organic foods and think that curbside recycling actually recycles when consumers don't buy products made from recycled materials.
There are a few companies that put solar panels up such as Whole Foods but it's not because it saves money or helps the environment, it's because it's marketing to the many people who believe they are environmentally conscious when they are not.
There are methods that could benefit the environment such as carbon sequestration through biochar production from the gasification of trash and dried sewage to synthesize liquid hydrocarbons such as gasoline and diesel or the less expensive than coal, Thorium power. But these are completely overlooked by the ignorant environmentally conscious masses.
We could save the planet but it would require abolishing ignorance and that's not going to happen.
Anyone who is environmentally friendly enough to make the switch. ANy building from a home to a business can be outfitted with solar panels. Many people don't' realize that within ten years the cost of the panel installation is completely paid for by the savings from electricity.
where electricity is expensive . like in gujarat in india they set up solar panels and now they would be able to reduce the price by next seven years but atleast india has started going green
