In part one of this article, we looked at the fantasy world of solar energy. The point I was making is that advertising uses association to make us want to buy a product. Like all sellers of a product, solar proponents use beautiful imagery and appealing narratives to make solar energy look better than it actually is. We are left with an impression that if we can just convert the nation to solar, we will all be healthier, smarter, kinder, better looking, and nicer to animals. What I am saying sounds absurd, but don’t we all know that this is true with cars and beer? The advertising tells us that if we drink beer we will have so much more fun at parties, we will laugh a lot, and play healthy games such as volleyball. The best part of drinking beer is that women in bikinis will somehow appear. Not many people think this is true at a conscious lever, but the subconscious is so powerful. Our thinking brain rejects the ads, but our feeling brain eats it up. Beer advertising is the way it is because it works. Let me say it again, beer advertising with all of its stupid promises, works on you and it works on me.
It is the same with cars. If we buy the right kinds of cars, we will be more successful, people will envy us, and the opposite sex will want to be with us. We may think that those promises would not fool anyone, but advertisers make so much money because the stories that they write work.
Part of the reason that car and beer ads work is that there is some truth to them. A car does make you more powerful, because in addition to being much more convenient that taking a bus, it acts as a status symbol. A car is the human equivalent of a peacock tail. The female peacock wants the male with the big pretty tail because he has demonstrated that he is healthy enough to pull off such an extravagant display. Similarly, many women want the man with the big car because it says something about his wallet size. Beer also delivers on some of its promises. It lowers inhibitions in some pretty positive ways. For people who are socially awkward or fear talking to strangers, it can make them laugh more easily and allow them to tell better stories without all of the nervousness. There have even been some studies that show that alcohol can sometimes increase learning. On the other hand, the beer ads conveniently ignore the weight gain, the missed work, the liver disease, and saying too much at the office Christmas party.
Getting back to solar power, the advertising has told us that a world filled with solar energy will be more beautiful and will have more woodland animals in it. People who use solar power are kinder, smarter, more intelligent, and more desirable to the opposite sex. Who wouldn’t want that? The kernel of truth in solar advertising is that solar panels really do generate electricity and they really do create a particular group identity. When you spend $25,000 to put solar panels on your roof, you will impress a certain group of people that you are willing to back up your ideology with big money. In some cases this will help you get friends and in some cases will get you dates. It s the same as with a flashy car, a cooler full of beer, or a strutting peacock followed by a group of adoring peahens. The disappointing part is this; most of the promises advertised by the car, beer, and solar industry don’t come true.
“Some guys spend their money on fancy cars…while others spend it on sexy solar panels. I bet I get a lot more action from Mother Nature than anyone driving a Ferrari.” - Ryan van Duzer - http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/05/duzer-duz-solar-power-video/
Sometimes a gift just drops in your lap. I discovered Ryan van Duzer after I wrote everything above. I was searching the web for “sexy solar” when I chanced upon Ryan and he is perfect. He even mentions fast cars and beers. I would ask that you go to his web site and watch his video. He is young, good looking, adventurous, and he is so green. Here is the question, has Ryan found a solution for the nation’s energy needs. Are his solar panels really as inexpensive as he claims?
Something worth noting is that Ryan mentions that he is hooked up to the grid, or in other words, he is wired up to all of the same power plants as his neighbors. At night, or on cloudy days, Ryan is getting his electricity from coal and nuclear, just like his neighbors. In the summer, when the days are long, Ryan doesn’t use much coal generated electricity; however, in the long nights of winter, his electricity is the same as anyone else’s.
Ryan said that he has a 3 kW system and it cost $18,000 before all of the grants and subsidies. A 3kW system in Boulder, Colorado produces about half of the total electricity that an average family would use, so a family of four with a moderate lifestyle could expect to pay $36,000 before all of the government money comes in. In other states, where the sun does not shine as much, you will need even more panels. I live in Pennsylvania and my family of four consumes about 9,000 kWh per year. I found this by checking my electricity bills. Based on my location, I would need a system 3.3 times larger than Ryan’s, or I would need to pay $60,000. Of course, I could get government money to help, but where does that really come from? If you look at your pay check, you will see that money is taken out by Uncle Sam every pay period. You and I paid for Ryan’s solar panels. Did we get our money’s worth?
We should remember that Ryan’s solar system is backed up by power plants so that he will not be inconvenienced at night or when the sky is overcast. When he is not at home and the sun is shining, his extra electricity may very well be wasted. The idea is that his excess power can be used by other customers, but power does not work that way. The grid must be 100% reliable or else lights will go dim and computers will crash. The electricity cannot be stored, so it must be generated at all times. Since Ryan’s power is unreliable, the coal, nuclear, and natural gas plants need to run anyway. Ryan could choose to buy large banks of batteries to store the excess power that he generates, then he would be able to use solar power at night. The problem is that he would need a lot of very expensive batteries and they would need to be replaced every five years as they wore out. Batteries are also known to not be very environmentally friendly. They are made in giant dirty factories and require toxic chemicals that are transported in diesel guzzling ships and trucks. For that matter, solar panels are also made in giants dirty factories and their components are transported by diesel guzzling vehicles.
The upshot is that Ryan seems like a nice guy, but you and I paid for his ridiculously expensive power scheme. When the sun is not shining, he is still consuming coal and nuclear like anyone else. He may be generating excess power at times, but much of it is going to waste. He seems honest to me and is sincere. I caught only one factual mistake in the whole video, but it is a big one:
“It’s gonna produce 100 percent of my electricity for the rest of time . . . time . . . time!!”
Sorry Ryan, you are still coal boy, you are still glowing with nuclear power, and you are still nursing at the natural gas teat.
A satire of a satire. Cool.
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