It'll make energy cheaper, but asking if solar power will make technological gadgets cheaper is kind of like asking if having a faster computer makes you a better writer. They're just different fields. Energy and energy infrastructure will become cheaper and simpler to maintain.

That said, I don't think prices will go up overall because energy is just part of the picture.

Some technology might become more expensive at a rate we probably wouldn't notice anyway(not solar panels apparently, cheaper everyday) as infrastructure, battery tech, compatible alloys and everything catches up with solar panel technology, but comprehensively, I can't see how solar technology could push prices up.

I think about it like motorcycles versus electric bikes. There's the up front cost, which can be similar only because batteries are so expensive right now, even though they're getting cheaper every year.

But after that up front cost? You have one motor with two parts vs an ICE with what 200 moving precision parts? That are being kicked by micro explosions multiple times a second to move the vehicle?

No oil changes. No coolant; aside from brake fluid, no fluid or fluid changes required for the life of the electric vehicle. You don't have to change any air/oil/fuel filters, no pumps, no cracking hoses, spark plugs, there's just no maintenance cost with an electric vehicle compared to a fuel driven vehicle. Even if the battery degraded after a decade, the cost of that versus just the regular maintenance cost of an ICE motorcycle over a decade is maybe 20 percent, maybe a top of the line $2,000 new electric battery versus $10,000 easily spent as $1,000 per year on parts and labor, regular wear and tear.

Maintaining an electric vehicle versus a fuel driven vehicle saves so much money on top of saving you time, which saves you more money.

So when I use a technology like solar panels, just the no moving parts alone constitute such a savings that, coupled with the rapidly decreasing cost in watt per dollar for PV, convince me that overall the price of energy will go down the more countries invest in solar technologies.

Those savings of money and I think more importantly, time, could not directly drive prices up.

[–] itchy_lizard@feddit.it 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The solution to cars is obviously to make them illegal or tax them out of existence. Trains and busses can runonn grid-tied electric no problems. No batteries needed.

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

I don't want to outlaw gasoline cars. Actually that isn't true, I do want to outlaw gasoline cars but I don't think that it would be fair. Taxes on the other hand, I am all in favor of. Just like cigarettes, tax, gasoline, cars proportionally. To studies on the toll on the environment and society gasoline cars cost versus EVs, and tax them accordingly.

And man I could not be stronger on the side of trains. I travel a lot, and when I came back to the states for a visit I couldn't the possity of the u.s mass transportation infrastructure.

I really think it's holding the US back just an opportunity costs of students not going to school or they want to or moving to a city that welcomes them, they have to struggle against a crappy situation just because they can't afford the ticket to leave.

Even in China, if you work 100 mi away from where you live, which is very common there, that's a 30 minute commute to work. No traffic jams or popped tires or any of that crap.

I mean sometimes trains in China crash into subway walls and a bunch of people drown because the subway's underwater(https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008196) But we can use Austria as an example instead. I know people in austria who commute to different countries for work everyday on trains.

Mass transportation for the win.

[–] itchy_lizard@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If there's more demand for solar panels and the supply can't keep up, it would cause the price to go up

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Oh sure, that just doesn't seem likely from a practical point of view with how rapidly the technology is advancing and the constantly novel materials there using to construct the panels.

Running out of solar panels today is akin to saying that we'll run out of engines because so many people bought cars 100 years ago.

We won't run out as demand increases, we'll figure out how to make them cheaper and more accessible with alternative materials.