Solar energy Industry the Best of the Bunch

The future of solar energy is looking positive, if only because of the unpredictability of many other industries, says a recent article in Forbes magazine. It is one of the few industries that is not influenced by ‘temperamental developers [and] fickle public tastes’, article author Michael Kanellos states, and as such is one with safe and secure prospects.rnAlthough some solar companies across the world reported a decline in earnings in the past few weeks, Kanellos believes that solar energy has still got a good future ahead of it. ‘Everyone needs energy,’ he writes. ‘If we magically eliminated the Internet tomorrow, life would be like 1986 … [but] if you got rid of the modern energy infrastructure, civilization would be plunged back to the 1830s’.rnHe goes onto state that the energy industry is based on needs and not wants, and this fact was a big influencer in last week’s announcement that the Bank of America will loan SolarCity, an American leader in all things solar power, approximately $350 million for its SolarStrong initiative. The initiative will install 300 megawatts of rooftop solar panels on houses in as many as 124 US military bases over the coming five years. rnThe US military is thought to be a huge factor in the push for solar energy throughout the USA, and the US army has expressed a strong interest in ‘renewables’ in recent times. But it is not just the military causing this optimistic view of the future of solar energy. “Designing and erecting solar power plants is a people-intensive business,” says Kirt Mayland, the director of business development at installer Soltas Energy. “The 24GWs scheduled to be installed nationwide over the next five years will stimulate significant growth in the industry both in jobs and in ongoing economic activity.”rnOther energy resources such as coal, oil and nuclear are facing problems such as high expense and high building cost, and so Kanellos believes that ‘simple’ solar energy is looking to be the much safer, better option in the future.