oaksleeksbeans

Even Thin Solar Can't Weather Silicon Glut - Barron's

I run a solar electric program in a medium sized state. Last year we cofunded about 870 kW of installed systems. This month we got in about 200 kW of applications. This is before the stimulus money hits. This year may surprise the forecasters.

Want Solar Panels? China Will Pick Up the Tab

Let us assume $5/watt, annual generation of 1.4 kilowatt hours (kWhs)/watt of PV and see what price of power would be required for a PV system to pay for itself it two years.

First cost: $5/watt
Cost after incentive: $2/watt
Generation per year: 1.4 kWh
Generation over two years: 2.8 kWh

Cost of power required to payback over two years:
$2/2.8 kWh = 71 cents a kWh

Electric prices are not that high, not even in Hawaii. I currently pay about 13 cents per kWh here in the Midwest.

You can be sure that power prices are far lower in China.

PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (PBW) Holdings

Hey Aquaculture - I believe you mean ground sourced heat pumps not geothermal. Speaking as a geologist, geothermal is hot water gysers etc. Ground sourced heat pumps use the stable temperature of the earth as a heat source (winter) or sink (summer) for a heat pump.