"Who do you think was mostly responsible for the widespread adoption of renewables in the U.S.? Was it the world's greatest physicist? Or the Nazi's? Astronauts or the oil industry? Or was it the hippies?" According to the research that filmmakers Jeff Spies and Jason Vetterli conducted while creating their documentary "Solar Roots" it was the Cannabis growers (1). Who would've thought? If you have a few minutes, you may find their movie pretty interesting.
So, what does the history of solar have to do with wind turbines? Well, at Harmony Turbines we often hear from folks that they feel wind power is too expensive and they immediately want to reference the current state of solar which is generally 22-24% efficient (2) and costs as low as $2.14 per watt (3) as of this writing. But it wasn’t always this good. In fact the past 16 years have given way to a very large decrease in the prices of solar as the technology matures and mass production becomes more widespread.
But really I mean, how bad could it have been? Apparently, the efficiency of solar back in the 1960’s and 1970’s was rated at approximately 14% (2) and the price of solar was around $100 per watt (5)! In 1956 solar panels cost an astonishing $300 per watt (4)! Now THAT’s pretty crazy. And if you price-correct for inflation, those 1975 prices are really $586 per watt (6) in today's money.
Fortunately we don’t expect the initial per watt cost of our wind turbines to be nearly that much! And just as the cost of solar has plummeted over the years, we believe the same will happen with wind energy in general and with Harmony's turbines specifically. We anticipate that with tweaks and improvements to our design, changes to materials used in building our turbines, and fleshing out partnerships with companies who can mass produce our units, that the cost per watt of our solution should also decrease significantly over time, making it more affordable and accessible to people around the world.
So what about that annoying question that everyone asks, solar vs wind? In our opinion, these two renewables should never be in competition with each other, rather, they should complement one another. Our consensus is, if you have great sun, get a solar solution. If you have great wind, get a wind turbine solution. If you have both great sun AND great wind, then harness both!
So the real question is not Wind vs Solar, but rather, if you have great wind, which residential wind turbine solution is going to be the best one that you can buy? We hope that once we're in production, Harmony Turbines is the clear winner! Stay tuned!
Why wait for change, when you can BE the change? Invest* in clean energy by investing in Harmony Turbines! (https://startengine.com/harmony-turbines)
We appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for your continued support and interest in Harmony!
~The Harmony Turbines Team
References
- https://www.solar-roots.com/
- https://www.renogy.com/blog/solar-panel-efficiency-and-cost-over-time/
- https://www.energysage.com/local-data/solar-panel-cost/
- https://www.energysage.com/about-clean-energy/solar/the-history-and-invention-of-solar-panel-technology/
- https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices
- https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
*This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment.