Hope for the Future

Solar power and wind power, like all other innovative technologies, become more affordable the longer they are around. What makes this possible? First, with experience comes the knowledge of how to install and operate such technologies more cost effectively, which in turn can be passed on to the consumer. Also improvements in the technologies themselves, such as bigger, more efficient, more aerodynamic turbines for wind power, will lead to plummeting costs. And what could be better for the clean energy movement than making it possible for more people to be able to afford solar and wind power over natural gas or coal fired electricity. According to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report, “the cost of electricity from onshore wind turbines will drop twelve percent in the next five years thanks to a mix of lower cost equipment and gains in output efficiency.” This means that possibly as early as 2016 alternative means of generating electricity could be fully competitive by being as cheap as, if not cheaper, than traditional power. There is hope that our children will see a world in which the majority of energy is produced from carbon free sources.