Five facts about the German solar industry

Here is a fun article I found about German solar energy.

Aug 13 (Reuters) - A large number of German solar companies are reporting second-quarter results on Thursday, with investors looking for signs of a sustainable upturn in the industry, which has been hit by a sharp slump in prices.

Here are five facts about the German solar industry:

* The German solar market is expected to become the world's largest in 2009, overtaking Spain, as measured by megawatts of installation, according to industry association EPIA.

* Germany is home to industry bellwethers such as Q-Cells (QCEG.DE), one of the world's largest maker of solar cells, solar inverter maker SMA Solar (S92G.DE) and SolarWorld (SWVG.DE), which makes silicon and solar panels.

* Germany's 15,000 solar companies employed 70,000 people in 2008. This number is expected to rise to 200,000 by 2020, according to German solar industry association BSW.

* Sales in the industry amounted to about 7 billion euros ($9.9 billion) in 2008, while the export quota of photovoltaic companies was 46 percent.

* According to BSW, photovoltaics will account for 1 percent of Germany's power consumption this year, with that share seen rising to 25 percent by 2050.




Germany leads the way in solar energy.

Solar Facts

Facts about solar energy usage

• Solar Energy is measured in kilowatt-hour. 1 kilowatt = 1000 watts.
  
  
• 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) = the amount of electricity required to burn a 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours.
  
  
• According to the US Department of Energy, an average American household used approximately 866-kilowatt hours per month in 1999 costing them $70.68.
  
  
• About 30% of our total energy consumption is used to heat water.
  
  
  
  Knowledge is Power

Interesting Solar Facts

• Da Vinci predicted a solar industrialization as far back as 1447.
• A world record was set in 1990 when a solar powered aircraft flew 4060km across the USA, using no fuel.
• Electric ovens consume the most amount of electricity, followed by microwaves and central air conditioning.
• Shell Oil predicts that 50% of the world's energy will come from renewable sources by 2040.

Solar energy was thought of since 1447 how cool is that!

Solar Facts

• Two billion people in the world have no access to electricity. For them, solar power is a practical way to deliver at least a little electricity in rural places around the world.
• In 40 minutes of daylight The SUN releases upon The Earth the amount of energy that is consumed by the entire population of the planet in ONE YEAR.
• The largest purchaser of Green Power, which includes solar, is the US Air Force
• Canadian Steve Lapp added solar panels to his Prius. he gets about an extra 8 MPG!

The bottom line is...

We need to use more solar power to our advantage!