Professor Says Solar Panels a 'Loser'

Installing solar panels on homes is an economic "loser" with the costs far outweighing the financial benefit, a respected University of California-Berkeley business professor said Wednesday.

The technology, using photovoltaic panels to generate electricity, is not economically competitive with fossil fuels and costs more than other renewable fuels, said Severin Borenstein, who also directs the UC Energy Institute.

"We are throwing away money by installing the current solar PV technology," he said.

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"I have nothing against solar PV and I hope it gets better," he said. "It's just very expensive and not terribly efficient."

Borenstein said he didn't take into account the feel-good benefit or societal value of installing a solar system on your roof. "Certainly people make these decisions for a variety of reasons," he said.

But installing better insulation would be a better bet economically, he said, although your neighbors won't know you did it.

Having installed solar panels myself, the return just isn't there. Good for emergency power, like what you may need to charge batteries after a hurricane or flood, but not worth much when trying to replace power plant supplied electrical power. The economies of scale of the power companies is just too great. Nuclear is the best answer, if your goal is really reducing CO2, if not, then skip solar.

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