Even with the collapse of Solyndra, the solar industry is still booming across the United States. While most sectors in the economy grew only .7% from August 2010 to August 2011, the solar industry grew a whopping 6.8% and added over 6,700 jobs. (Data:
here) In 2009, the solar industry employed roughly 50,000 Americans. Today, that number exceeds 100,000. Recent advances in the solar industry have lowered production costs and have made photovoltaic or PV panels more efficient, and the relative cost per watt is decreasing on a daily basis. This is occurring while China is inundating the market with extremely cheap panels as they attempt to take over the solar market.
Recently, the city of Denver announced the arrival of a GE photovoltaic manufacturing plant. The plant is expected to add over 355 full-time jobs and is expected to double in size over the next five years, thus adding even more jobs. These figures do not include the construction jobs to build the plant nor any other subsidiary benefit or job the new plant will create.The plant will ultimately produce enough thin-film cadmium telluride panels to power 80,000 homes annually and once completed, the GE plant will be the largest solar manufacturing facility in the United States.
The fact that GE picked Colorado for its new factory is no coincidence. The company recently acquired the solar start-up company PrimeStar Solar based out of Colorado. Our state is on the forefront of green technologies and with the help of NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab) PrimeStar was able to test their new thin-film technologies and create a marketable product. Now, with the backing of a large, very profitable corporation, these solar panels will be made available to thousands of consumers at extremely competitive prices. Our Governor, John Hickenlooper, along with other city officials, aggressively pursued the GE plant and were ultimately successful in furthering Colorado's increasingly prestigious green technology sector. (More info
here)
Here at Venture, we are not directly involved with the solar industry, but the future of architecture will inevitably be linked with green technologies. For example, new residential construction will focus on solar orientation and minimizing heat-gain during the summer months while maximizing heat-gain during the winter. Currently, these considerations are disregarded due to the power of mechanical systems and the low cost of electricity. As costs increase, these large systems will become much less desirable. A simple design consideration, such as solar orientation, will cut down the size of mechanical systems and save vast amounts of energy and money. Proper solar orientation can also include surfaces that maximize the use of PV panels. This can lower the cost of installation while allowing the panels to receive that most amount of daylight available. Reversing the trend of larger house sizes will also be paramount, and may already occurring (See our previous blog post
here about average house sizes, and
here about how houses will become smaller.) Obviously, smaller homes require less energy to heat and cool, thus lowering peak electricity demand.
As an architecture firm, Venture will continue to grow and evolve as technologies change. Lets hope that the addition of GE will bring more investment and green technology companies to Denver. We here at Venture welcome the new addition to Denver's economy and look forward to the future of our profession.
