Thursday, November 29, 2012

Big name brands embrace Solar Power

We have huge shopping malls around us.

While many of the popular stores and consumer brands in US embrace solar power, we seem to be more laid back about it. Even the US-based IKEA in Peninsula Malaysia have not initiated anything similar to what their sister stores back home did.

A recent report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), in conjunction with the Vote Solar initiative, offers a snapshot of some of America's biggest companies and their varying committments to commercial solar installations.

Solar brands biggest installation
Most big brands in US have solar PV installed on top of their roofs. Image from www.seia.org


Why bother?

Energy costs make up a significant chunk of a business's operating expenses. A solar PV system helps to reduce these costs, improve the bottom line and allow a company to focus more energy and financial resources on their core competencies.

The rapidly falling cost of solar energy has made solar an increasingly appealing investment for American businesses. Between the second quarter of 2011 and the second quarter of 2012, the average price of a completed commercial PV system fell by nearly 14 percent.3 The economics of PV have become so attractive that many of the best managed corporations, which are synonymous with low cost and efficiency, are adopting solar energy on a massive scale across the U.S. 

Walmart
Covered with solar panels. Walmart, Marina, California. Photo: seia.org


Source: Website of Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) - report

2 comments:

smilla4blogs said...

Fascinating to see this breakdown of companies who have invested in solar power. Some of the names were quite surprising. Great post!

Adam said...

There will come a day where this will be on every home and business in America. I hope it comes within the next 20 years.