Garrick Hoffman

In a recent publication by news website Article 3, a heartening headline stole the featured spot under its Tech section: “Solar Now Powering Half A Million Homes and Businesses”.

According to A3, “Every 40 minutes, the amount of solar energy that falls on the earth’s surface is equal to the total annual energy consumption of all human activities. In other words, 27 years’ worth of worldwide energy consumption equals only one day’s worth of solar energy hitting the earth.”

With half a million homes and business generating solar power, the news marks a milestone for America and its solar power industry, which has begun to gain significant traction. That figure comprises a rate of 53% of generated energy that stems from solar power in America in the second quarter of 2014. The solar market is expected to vitalize with considerable growth in the upcoming years with the access to funding, reduction in system pricing as a result of design and engineering enhancements and innovations, and sales channels that are constantly in the process of diversifying.

The A3 article mentions that, according to The Q2 2014 U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, “the U.S. installed 1,133 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaics (PV) in the second quarter of this year. The residential and commercial segments accounted for nearly half of all solar PV installations in the quarter.” It goes on to include that “Across the United States, cumulative PV and concentrating solar power (CSP) operating capacity has surpassed 15.9 gigawatts (GW), enough to power more than 3.2 million homes.” By the end of this year, it reports, the gigawatts of photovoltaic installment will be up by 36% from 2013.

As the advent of widespread photovoltaic installation has come under way, the economy has since become subject to noteworthy improvement. As of today, the solar industry employs 143,000 Americans, and injects upwards of $15 billion into the economy.

Residing in an epoch of new technology, clean alternatives to energy, and an abundance of evidence that attributes our fossil fuel consumption to a plethora of adverse byproducts, it is our duty to alter the landscape of energy sources. As made evident, the sun can and should serve as one of the pillars for our energy consumption. If we have the means to harness the mighty power of the sun, it is both irresponsible and asinine to continue to rely upon fossil fuels. They are slowly becoming a thing of the past. A century of its use has proven enough. They pushed us through the industrial revolution and beyond, but like fossils themselves, they should be buried – buried in the past of human society.

It is no time to have a myopic, skewed, or selfish approach to energy. The evidence has made clear that the use of fossil fuels has levied a tremendously abysmal effect on the world and its inhabitants. They are volatile, non-renewable resources; if we continue to use them, they will be extinct – but maybe not before we are. Of course, with entire industries slowly perishing, many a worker will see their job lost. But if we cling to this unfortunate fact, progress may never be seen. As quoted from the Fight Club film, “you wanna make an omelette, you gotta break some eggs.”

Furthermore, The agenda of a pro-clean energy individual is not that of a “tree-hugging liberal,” but rather, it’s lodged in the order of good conscience and conscientiousness of human beings. This is the future of us humans and the many living things we co-exist with.

If the sun is the engine of life, it should serve as the engine of our energy. If the sun can produce in a day what we globally produce in 27 years with fossil fuels – energy wise – that should be enough to jar and spur you. This article boasts that we are taking the steps into the right direction, but we still have much work to do.

garrickchoffman@smccme.edu