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HONR 229L: Climate Change: Science, Economics, and Governance
Solar Photovoltaics
Your name here
21 October 2015
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1
I’d suggest first going through the Admission Ticket questions, which you can start by posing the first as a
question to the class:
In the KH book, industry research firm Clean Edge makes a prediction of the total installed capacity for solar
photovoltaics (PV) in year 2015.
a)
What was the prediction?
b) What was the actual installed base in year 2014, the latest year for which an actual installed capacity is
given on the wiki page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaics) that has also been assigned?
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2
This is a wonderful website http://solarcellcentral.com/ that is succinct and has some great graphics you can
incorporate into the presentation.
As a follow-up to the prior slide, might want to show this image, which depicts the time evolution of
worldwide PV capacity:
http://solarcellcentral.com/markets_page.html
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3
This is a wonderful website http://solarcellcentral.com/ that is succinct and has some great graphics you can
incorporate into the presentation.
As a follow-up to the prior slide, might want to show and this image, which shows the annual growth
(increase in capacity per year) of worldwide PVs
http://solarcellcentral.com/markets_page.html
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4
Can have various threads of discussion around these two slides, such as:
why do you think the PV growth has been so rapid?
what countries are leading this growth?
http://solarcellcentral.com/markets_page.html
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This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
5
Can have various threads of discussion around these two slides, such as:
In terms of the countries, can show this table:
http://solarcellcentral.com/markets_page.html
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This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
6
Can have various threads of discussion around these two slides, such as:
In terms of the countries, and/or this this figure :
http://solarcellcentral.com/markets_page.html
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland.
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
7
Can have various threads of discussion around these two slides, such as:
to get the conversation rolling. If you show, please study the website to be sure you
understand what is being shown.
Can ask many questions about these, such as:
what practice has the German government employed to facilitate the widespread use of solar?
(this is covered in KH & the wiki)
are students surprised by the rise of solar in China?
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8
For the “rise of solar in China” question, can remind students I had shown the slide on the following page, at
the very first class meeting, which does contain a significant commitment by China to increase their use of
renewable energy.
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland.
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
9
Obama – Xi Accord: November 2014
 Presidents of the US and China announced their respective
post-2020 actions on climate change, recognizing that these
actions are part of the longer range effort to transition to lowcarbon economies, mindful of the global temperature goal of
2°C. The U.S. intends to achieve an economy-wide target of
reducing emissions by 26% to 28% below its 2005 level in
2025 ; China intends to achieve peaking of CO2 emissions
around 2030 and make best effort to peak early & intends to
increase share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy
consumption to ~20% by 2030.
 The United States and China hope that by announcing these targets now, they can inject momentum
into the global climate negotiations and inspire other countries to join in coming forward with ambitious
actions as soon as possible, preferably by the first quarter of 2015 … to reach a successful global
climate agreement in Paris in late 2015.
 The two sides have among other things:
 established the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group (CCWG), under which they have launched initiatives
on vehicles, smart grids, carbon capture, energy efficiency, GHG data management, forests and industrial boilers;
 agreed to work together towards the global phase down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
 created the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, which facilitates collaborative work in carbon capture and
storage technologies, energy efficiency in buildings, and clean vehicles; and
 agreed on a joint peer review of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies under the G-20.
Text: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/11/us-china-joint-announcement-climate-change
Image: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/China-and-the-United-States-agree-to-climate-agreement-by-2030-32676.html
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland.
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
10
For the “rise of solar in China” question, can remind students I had shown the slide on the following page, at
the very first class meeting, which does contain a significant commitment by China to increase their use of
renewable energy.
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland.
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
11
Obama – Xi Accord: November 2014
 Presidents of the US and China announced their respective
post-2020 actions on climate change, recognizing that these
actions are part of the longer range effort to transition to lowcarbon economies, mindful of the global temperature goal of
2°C. The U.S. intends to achieve an economy-wide target of
reducing emissions by 26% to 28% below its 2005 level in
2025 ; China intends to achieve peaking of CO2 emissions
around 2030 and make best effort to peak early & intends to
increase share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy
consumption to ~20% by 2030.
 The United States and China hope that by announcing these targets now, they can inject momentum
into the global climate negotiations and inspire other countries to join in coming forward with ambitious
actions as soon as possible, preferably by the first quarter of 2015 … to reach a successful global
climate agreement in Paris in late 2015.
 The two sides have among other things:
 established the U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group (CCWG), under which they have launched initiatives
on vehicles, smart grids, carbon capture, energy efficiency, GHG data management, forests and industrial boilers;
 agreed to work together towards the global phase down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
 created the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, which facilitates collaborative work in carbon capture and
storage technologies, energy efficiency in buildings, and clean vehicles; and
 agreed on a joint peer review of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies under the G-20.
Text: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/11/us-china-joint-announcement-climate-change
Image: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/China-and-the-United-States-agree-to-climate-agreement-by-2030-32676.html
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland.
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
12
I would greatly appreciate if, next, you would show the four slides to follow. Fine of course to state I had
provided 
Please email me if you have any questions or concerns about these slides.
The first shows the world electricity energy generation capacity from all sources … the small shares of
renewables is IMHO depressing and speaks for itself.
The second shows the shares of Geothermal, Solar, Wind, and Biomass electricity capacity, with a different
y-axis, so that we can see the growth. Over the past decade, the growth has been considerable, especially
solar. But argh we have such a long way to go.
The third slide is the latest energy accounting I could find for the entire US, and the fourth is the same for the
state of Maryland.
You can have a myriad of discussion around these four slides 
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13
World Electricity Generating Capacity:
Power (energy/time)
Geothermal
Solar
Wind
Biomass
Source: http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/aeo/tablebrowser/#release=IEO2013&subject=0-IEO2013&table=26-IEO2013&region=0-0&cases=Reference-d041117
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
14
World Electricity Generating Capacity:
Power (energy/time)
Geothermal
Solar
Wind
Biomass
Source: http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/aeo/tablebrowser/#release=IEO2013&subject=0-IEO2013&table=26-IEO2013&region=0-0&cases=Reference-d041117
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
15
U.S. Electricity Supply: 2013
http://www.c2es.org/technology/overview/electricity
U.S. obtains ~68% of its electricity from fossil fuels &
~13% from sources other than fossil fuels + nuclear energy
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Md. Electricity Supply
in 2012, MD obtained ~56% of its electricity from fossil fuels &
~9% from sources other than fossil fuels + nuclear energy
http://www.communityenergyinc.com/blog/clean-energy-suppliers-maryland/
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
17
I would greatly appreciate if you could discuss the rest of the Admission Ticket questions
Next one is:
The KH book gives a numerical value for how much the price per peak watt for solar energy must be, for
solar energy to be able to compete with “coal-fired electricity virtually everywhere”. This number appears
twice in the reading; also the wiki page provides the same price per peak watt cost for solar energy to
achieve economic parity with the grid.
a) what is the price per peak watt for solar energy needed to achieve cost parity with coal?
b) according to http://solarcellcentral.com/markets_page.html when was this parity achieved?
c) according to KH, what other additional critical hurdle must be overcome to enable solar-generated
electricity to compete with coal-fired electricity virtually everywhere?
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland.
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
18
I would greatly appreciate if you could discuss the rest of the Admission Ticket questions
Next one is:
Feel free to use this image from http://solarcellcentral.com/markets_page.html
and also, please to spend time talking about c): the hurdle of energy storage is HUGE because wide spread
adoption of solar, to meet base line demand, really will require overcoming the limitation of the intermittency
of solar. Feel free to work in the discussion of “peak shaving” that starts on page 20, into this thread.
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland.
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
19
Great if you could spend time on this:
The KH book tells the story of three companies: one led by Conrad Burke, one led by Dave Pearce, and the
third led by Bill Gross.
State the name of these three companies and for each provide a succinct description of the innovation each
company was attempting to place into the market.
and
Pick one of the companies for Q3 and, based on your own independent web research, state what has
happened to the company since the time the KH book was written.
Hint: one company was acquired by a larger company but their mission is on-going, one
company no longer exists, and one company is “keeping on keeping on”. Hopefully the
students will be able to help you out here, with all three companies. I suspect half the class will
focus on the first company (because it is first) and the fewest on the last company … but we
shall see 
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This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
20
Last AT question is:
The KH book provides an estimate of how much land would be needed to produce enough electricity to
power the entire US from solar photovoltaic technology. This estimate is based on a certain assumption for
the efficiency of the solar PV.
a) what is the “length of the square” (KH use the word “side”) that would be needed for the US to get all of its
electricity needs from solar PV?
b) what did KH assume about the efficiency of solar PV to arrive at this estimate?
c) what would the “length of the square” (or “side”) be if the efficiency would rise to the highest achieved
using a proprietary triple-junction by the Sharp Corporation, that is described on the wiki
Great if you could review … if you have any questions about this AT question, please let me
know!
Again, can have some serious discussion here … even if we did as a nation invest in a huge PV
grid, say in the desert of Nevada, how would we:
a) transmit the electricity across the country ?
b) handle the intermittency issue ?
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This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
21
I almost placed the following question into the AT. Feel free to use if you’d like.
KH state “it takes as much as 6 years for a PV cell to generate as much electricity as it took to
manufacture this device” (page 41 … I’ve lightly edited)
You can ask the class if they think this estimate makes sense?
Hopefully someone will remember the wiki, where it states “With current technology,
photovoltaics recoups the energy needed to manufacture them in 1.5 to 2.5 years in Southern
and Northern Europe, respectively”
I suspect the wiki estimate is more accurate … power of the web!
Can ask folks why there is a range for Southern & Northern Europe … must be availability of
more sunlight in the south 
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland.
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
22
I think the material I have provided could take the entire 45 mins.
Feel free to use whatever you’d like of what I have provided … although if you will not use
slides 14 to 17 I’d appreciate knowing, as I could show either before you get up or after your
presentation.
Also … fine to grand whatever additional figures you’d like off the web and highlight whatever
aspects of KH / wiki you’d like.
Good luck: I’d be happy to preview a draft !
Copyright © 2015 University of Maryland.
This material may not be reproduced or redistributed, in whole or in part, without written permission from Ross Salawitch.
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