By Evolution Solar Sunshine Coast

Last year, the solar industry suffered massive reductions in government support but still managed to install 337 000 solar pv systems with Queensland as the markets main contributor. Many talk of the cost of installing but how many people talk about the cost of NOT installing solar power or other renewable energies?

Queenslanders are taking advantage of their ‘sunshine state’ and using it to generate their power. Stats released by GEM have shown that Queensland accounted for 40% of the Australian market last year. In fact, out of the 337 000 PV systems installed, 110 000 of them were installed in Queensland in the June/July period alone before the rebate decreased.

With the strong Australian dollar and the cost of manufacturing falling, we have seen the price of solar power systems decreasing dramatically over the last few years. The Australian PV Association say, “At this price, and with continued increases in grid electricity prices due largely to network refurbishment and upgrades, PV is a very attractive option for homeowners in many parts of Australia and is of increasing interest to the commercial sector.”

The following is a table from GEM showing the installations of 2012 by state.

We hear people talking about the cost (now unsubsidized cost) of installing solar power and ‘going green.’ Then I came across an article this morning that spoke about the cost of NOT installing solar power and renewable energies. A report released by the World Future Council has tried to put the cost of not using renewables in to a monetary figure in order to find out how much the future generations will pay for our mistakes.

They estimate that our children and their children will be paying around $9billion per day and this does not take into account the health risks and climate change. The report says that, “Protecting the use of increasingly valuable fossil raw materials for the future is possible by substituting these materials with renewables. Every day that this is delayed and fossil raw materials are consumed as one-time energy creates a future usage loss of between $8.8billion and $9.3billion US dollars.”

“Externalised costs from burning fossil fuels are incurred not only through damages from climate change but also through the lack of future availability of fossil raw materials consumed to meet our current energy demands, although alternatives exist. This study is a first attempt to calculate the costs of this loss.”

Installing a solar power system has become a ‘no-brainer.’ In some cases, you are better off if you install solar power rather than keep that money in the bank. Yet people continue to question the cost. They should be considering the cost of NOT installing renewable energies. Is that the legacy we want to leave behind for our children and their children?