Eternal Sunshine of the Solar Panel *


August 5, 2014

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

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