Is suburban sprawl a potential stepping stone to solar? Who would’ve guessed?
Australia thinks so. Delegates at the Adelaide International Solar Cities conference called surburbia “the surprisingly green ace in Australia’s climate pack.” By their reasoning, the sheer wealth of land per household in surburbia is begging for photovoltaics - a technology for which surface area is worth its weight in gold.
But even a sunburned country filled with hardscrabble Aussies needs someone to get the ball rolling. Therefore, the state of South Australia recently implemented a feed-in tariff like you might find in Germany. Consumers sell solar power back to the grid at twice the market rate. That will allow citizens to pay off installation costs in half the time.
That’s a fantastic start - but it’s a big country. Western Australia? Queensland? Tasmania?
Australia also seems to be held up by - irony of ironies - a lack of sand. More precisely, a lack of silicon. Most of the world’s pure-grade silicon is tied up in Europe, leaving Australia high and dry. Maybe one day, scientists might figure out a way around that.
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Another Boom on the Silicon Horizon? »« San Francisco Solar Incentive Program Approved by Board of Supervisors 6-3
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