How Much Does Solar Energy Cost Compared To Fossil Fuels

Natural gas petroleum and coal together accounted for more than 80 percent of energy use in the united states in 2012.

How much does solar energy cost compared to fossil fuels.

This incentive provides a tax credit of 26 percent of the cost to install solar power at your. Meanwhile more than 5 gigawatts of solar power capacity was scheduled to come online in 2013 about. And what s more renewable energy is only projected to get cheaper over time. The ultimate way to compare solar energy to fossil fuels is by cost where solar has quickly caught up with its non renewable counterparts.

As you might imagine each subsidy may have different goals ranging from helping low income households to encouraging domestic production of oil and gas to getting new technologies to scale. In terms of reliable application coal and natural gas have the edge. To start let s compare the costs of solar energy and fossil fuels as we see them now. But there are always questions about whether it is a viable replacement for fossil fuels that can meet the energy needs of the public now and most importantly for the future.

That s a lot of potential savings. Fossil fuel use is integrated into the fabric of american society. Solar energy still has a long way to go before it becomes the most popular renewable resource on the planet not to mention the most popular energy resource but its growing popularity is undeniable. At the top of the list of competition for fossil fuels is solar energy.

In 2020 the average cost of residential solar was about 16 per kilowatt hour kwh and the national average for conventional electricity was 13 28 kwh. Although renewable energy is growing it still needs extra investment up front in comparison to non renewable energy. Believe it or not the cost of solar energy and solar panels lack of co2 emissions are closely linked. Wind and solar investment and production tax credits encourage more renewable energy on the grid but they also cost billions of dollars per year.

The best way to compare solar energy with fossil fuels is to compare costs where solar energy has quickly reached its non renewable counterparts. Solar energy has a long way to go before it will be the most popular renewable resource on the planet much less the most popular energy resource but its growth in popularity is pretty undeniable. That s a lot of potential savings. The cost of renewable energy is now falling so fast that it should be consistently cheaper than traditional fossil fuels within just a few years according to the international renewable energy.

Some solar panel projects can even generate power at roughly half the cost of fossil fuels like coal.