GEC PRESSROOM SOLAR

Wind|Solar|Nuclear|Hydro-Electric

Solar Facts

• In a single second, the sun generates enough energy to supply all U.S. energy needs for 9,000,000 years.
• Solar energy is the most abundant energy resource in the world. Every day, more sunlight is available than the world can use for all its energy needs.
• Solar panels generate electricity when photons in sunlight knock loose electrons in silicon — the same material used in PC chips. The silicon is sandwiched between two metal plates; electrons flow from one to the other.
• Solar power has long been the Mercedes-Benz of the renewable energy industry: sleek, quiet, low-maintenance.
• Through PV we can save billions of tones of CO2 ,create millions of jobs and power homes throughout the world with renewable energy.
• Roughly 100 square miles of solar panels placed in the southwestern U.S. could
  power the entire country.
• The solar industry is expected to triple in the next three years, from about $13 billion to $40 billion in revenue
• Every MW of solar energy produced results in 37 new jobs.
• Venture-capital firms pumped $264 million into solar companies in 2006, up from
  $64 million in 2004
• The U.S. currently has about 700 megawatts of installed generation from solar panels connected to the grid, according to research by the consulting firm Navigant. That represents less than 1% of all of the electricity generated in the U.S. About half of that generation comes from residential solar generators
  

• Global demand for solar energy will grow 40 percent annually for the remainder of the decade without a US federal incentive program.
• In the United States nearly one megawatt [1,000 kilowatts] of new solar energy capacity is being installed per business day.
• The outlook for solar energy in the US envisions 110 GW of new solar power capacity by 2016, resulting from a 67% compound annual growth rate
• Solar power accounts for well under 1% of U.S. electricity generation
• Solar energy is the most abundant energy resource in the world. Every day, more sunlight is available than the world can use for all its energy needs.
  In a single second, the sun generates enough energy to supply all U.S. energy needs for 9,000,000 years.
• One-fifth of all solar energy systems installed in the U.S. to date are already located in California.
• NJ ranks second in the country to California with about 38 Megawatts of solar installed. California has about 217 megawatts.

Solar Initiative...<<click here>>