MovieChat Forums > The Great Global Warming Swindle (2007) Discussion > As source of electricity, solar power is...

As source of electricity, solar power is more costly than fossil fuels


Really?

I was okay with accepting this film's idea that global warming isn't directly proven to be caused by our industrial age's factories and cars but I was taken aback when it claimed that alternative sources of electricity, solar for example, are more expensive than fossil fuels.

Maybe it depends who you talk to, right?

For example, the writer of the following article will tell you otherwise:

http://energyandmines.com/2014/04/solar-power-cheaper-than-fossil-fuels-confirmed/

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“A McKinsey study said the average cost of installed solar power in the US across all sectors has dropped to $2.59 from more than $6 a watt in 2010. It expects this fall to $2.30 by next year and $1.60 by 2020. This will put solar within “striking distance” of coal and gas, it said.”

This film was made in 2007. By the admission of that article, solar power was over 2x more expensive in 2010.

I didn't see the study and don't now how they computed those numbers or if others would contest them.

Solar power has been getting cheaper primarily because of government subsidies into adoption and innovation. This is a distortion of the market for the purposes of reducing CO2 emissions. We could be further "ahead" if we allowed the transformation to occur naturally under free market forces rather than spending billions to push it. We do the latter because of climate change alarmism.



~ Observe, and act with clarity. ~

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