Eternal Sunshine of the Solar Panel *

August 5, 2014

http://arxiv.org/pdf/1408.0696.pdf

Discussion

The widespread use of solar power 

has significant implications for society at large. 

The current electrical grid, fragile and overburdened, 

will benefit tremendously from increased use of solar power. 

Widespread power outages currently 

represent a significant cause of economic loss. 

Since at least some of their energy consumption 

is covered by a localized source, 

households with their own solar panels 

are less reliant on the centralized grid system, 

so they are not as harshly affected by power outages.

The benefits of solar power 

will extend to those who do not use it. 

Households can send the excess power 

generated by their solar panels 

back to the utility company, 

thus reducing the load on the power grid. 

This also helps in reducing pollution 

produced from using other power sources 

such as coal, which currently provides 

over half of the electricity consumed 

in the United States. 

Coal produces high levels of pollution, 

which has associated economic costs. 

In addition to environmental harm, 

medical conditions such as 

lung cancer and heart attacks, 

which are leading causes 

of death in America, 

have been linked to coal pollution. 

Solar power 

is a clean energy source 

that causes relatively little 

environmental harm 

in its production or use. 

Increased usage of solar power

could therefore contribute 

to a healthier population 

and possibly even lower death rates

in areas where coal is a primary source of power.

We have considered a model 

in which the environmental concerns 

of the early adopters and social pressure 

are the only relevant factors 

prompting individuals 

to switch to solar power. 

It seems logical that any capital 

put into ad campaigns or incentives 

would serve to compound 

the effects of social influence. 

For very small values of, 

there may be a situation 

in which the threshold is not surpassed, 

but could be overcome with added

effort from authorities and utility providers. 

After a certain level of the population 

has adopted the technology, 

social pressure alone 

may be enough to sustain the trend. 

This observation is important 

to the authorities responsible 

for making decisions 

regarding our energy sources. 

In our simulations, 

we observed the population 

of the non-solar class

always tended to a small fraction 

of the total population, 

but was still subject 

to a certain amount of variation. 

Therefore, future study could examine 

the amount of money spent

on maximizing the number 

of households that adopt solar technology.

________

*: Mackenzie Ginithan 1, Duber Gomez Fonseca 2, 

Daniel Lefevre 3 , Sowmya Srinivasan 4, Barbara Urena 5,

Kamal Barley 5, José Vega 5, Kamuela E. Yong 5, José Flores 1

1 University of South Dakota, 

2 University of Houston Downtown, 

3 Virginia Tech, 

4 Bryn Mawr College,

5 Arizona State University