Summary - Response

In the article titled “Cal State-Fullerton Adopts Clean Energy Policy” on the Daily Titan via U-Wire, by Joey T. English, the author states that California State University in Fullerton participates in a clean energy program managed by the state of California. The purpose of this program is to reduce toxic air and encourage the development, preservation and usage of clean and renewable energy sources. The university also aims to use renewable power effectively to save money to be environmentally-friendly.

In spite of being very friendly to the environment, solar energy still remains uncompetitive to the energy market. Solar power does not economically compete with other energy resources because of its high price in the energy market. To make a plan become reality, solar energy must satisfy at least two conditions, a low cost to produce and an affordable market price. In this case, as the author mentioned in the article, it is still very expensive to produce solar energy. As a result the consumers have to pay higher energy bills if they choose to use solar power. While our demand for energy is substantially increasing everyday, and we are trying to find an effective way to reduce our energy cost. It is not affordable for average householders to use solar energy as a main power supply while in the market they can still find cheaper resources of power supply such as, natural gas, coal fire, or oil.

The previous statements pertain to the consumer aspect of energy demand. The investors will make a careful decisions when investing their money in solar energy projects. When the investors put their money in production, they always expect a quick return. In this case, it seems quite impossible for the investors to obtain a quick return because renewable energy has a very slow investment return which usually takes 15 to 20 years. Hence solar energy can be good for our environment; but it may not be a benefit to many investors unless the government is involved to make solar energy affordable.

Although solar energy is being considered a friendly power resource to the environment, it still has to compete strongly with other power sources to have a steady place in the energy market.

English, J.T. (2006, May 3). Cal State-Fullerton Adopts clean energy policy. Daily Titan. Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis database, May 30, 2006.