U.S. businesses are increasingly turning to solar energy as a cost-effective means of powering their operations. As of 2018, Apple leads the nation with the most solar capacity installed, followed closely by Amazon, Target, Walmart and Switch.
The Solar Energy Industries Association’s seventh annual Solar Means Business Report follows solar adoption by businesses across the U.S., ranging from some of the country’s largest and most recognizable brands to the small businesses that make up our communities. For the first time, the 2018 report captures large off-site installations, as well as data on solar systems located at the site of the businesses themselves. Both installation types have grown considerably in recent years.
Through 2018, this report tracks more than 7,000 megawatts of installed solar capacity across 35,000 projects in 43 states, representing more than 70% of all commercial solar capacity installed in the U.S.
Apple ranks No.1 in SEIA’s annual report with Total Solar Capacity of 393.3 megawatts.
In 2018, Apple announced that their global operations were now powered by 100% renewable energy sources. The company’s data centers have been powered by renewable sources since 2014, and since 2011, all of Apple’s renewable energy projects have reduced greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) by 54 percent from its facilities worldwide and prevented nearly 2.1 million metric tons of CO2e from entering the atmosphere. Apple Park, Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, is the largest LEED Platinum-certified office building in North America. It is powered by 100 percent renewable energy from multiple sources, including a 17-megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation and four megawatts of biogas fuel cells, and controlled by a microgrid with battery storage.
Amazon ranks No.2 with Total Solar Capacity of 329.8 megawatts.
Amazon has a long history of commitment to sustainability through innovative programs such as Shipment Zero, Frustration Free Packaging, Ship in Own Container, our network of solar and wind farms, solar on our fulfillment center rooftops, investments in the circular economy with the Closed Loop Fund, and numerous other initiatives happening every day by teams across Amazon. And we are on a path to becoming the most sustainable retailer and cloud provider in the world.
MacDailyNews Take: Congratulations to Apple and Amazon!
Target and Walmart, too. This isn’t just a Silicon Valley liberal issue. Bentonville, Arkansas, is pretty conservative. Time was when conservatives were the leading conservationists. That needs to happen again.
What needs to happen again is people in the U.S. thinking that every issue has to be defined in terms of partisan politics. What ever happened to doing the right think simply because it was…right?
Perhaps more applicable to today’s politics, what ever happened to avoiding doing wrong things simply because they are wrong? Just because there is not a law against something doesn’t mean that it is OK to do it.
I remember when the arguments were mostly about how to accomplish reasonable set of goals in this nation rather than stark disagreements over the goals, themselves. We have lost our way to extremism.
“We” includes you, which means that you admit to having lost you way. I have no reason to think that you lied.
According to history, Rightwinger Pres. Reagan ignited class warfare by ushering in the destruction of worker unions while empowering corporate unions. He also led the way to using insulting and demeaning language by spitting out the word “Liberal” ans using it often in a derogatory way; His vindictive language and demeaner led directly to Trumpism which is weakening American prestige and influence in the world as well as impoverishing the normal person.
KingMel, I agree completely. I was trying to launch a premptive strike against the posts I suspect are coming that will claim that only crazy leftists are concerned with increasing the use of renewable energy sources. Conservation of the environment used to be a nonpartisan issue (the Endangered Species and Environmental Protection Acts were passed by the Nixon Administration with heavy Republican support). The issue should be nonpartisan again.
Absolutely!
It’s a conservationist issue, but it’s also an issue greatly driven by the elite. Solar panels and electric cars aren’t likely, practical and possible for the anyone w/o serious expendable income.
Of course, if you’re liberal you may likely think we need more subsidies/taxes to spread the benefit.
Here in Texas, poor people do get a substantial proportion of their electricity from solar panels and wind turbines. Almost every day I drive past transmission lines carrying that power to Austin and Houston. Taking coal plants offline and using natural gas to supplement the renewables isn’t just environmentally sound. It saves money for consumers.
Two years ago, I worked for a friends company. The company sold both auxiliary generators and solar installations. At about the time I started, the first solar installations were starting to reach the end of their useful life, about 10 years.
When the customers found out that the cost of replacement equaled any financial benefit that they had received, our solar sales tapered off to essentially zero.
Everyone assumed that once you bought solar panels, they would last forever. The company management assumed, like everyone else, that the cost of solar panels would come down, they didn’t. The company now sells only auxiliary generator installations powered by gasoline, natural gas, diesel, propane, etc. The company is now profitable.
Profit means survival. Anything less means the company does not survive, jobs lost. Not good.
My solar panels came with a 20 yr warranty and that is a conservative number. This article is enlightening:
https://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/7475/What-Is-the-Lifespan-of-a-Solar-Panel.aspx
I call pure BS on TKD.
Solar panel degradation rates are well less than 1% per year. I have seen maybe 2% in mine over their 9 year lifespan so far, and that’s hard to quantify as the amount of rain we’ve been getting has been steadily increasing. https://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/7475/What-Is-the-Lifespan-of-a-Solar-Panel.aspx
The vast majority of solar panel manufacturers guarantee 80% output at 25 years: https://energyinformative.org/lifespan-solar-panels/
So, again, BS.
Further, the cost of solar panels did indeed come down – and SIGNIFICANTLY. A system equivalent to mine that is now about 9 years old is now HALF what I paid after tax credit. And they continue to drop except, of course, because of tariffs: https://news.energysage.com/solar-panel-efficiency-cost-over-time/
So, again, BS.
We were seeing 10 years on the average, and our customers were not happy with the return on investment, that is their call, and so it made no sense for us to continue. Life is better now.
Solar power is one of tho most egalitarian forms of energy production in society where individual families can break away from big energy profiteers and Wall St comtrol which is why Rightwingers and their oil company brethren continually demean it, yet its growing at a fast pace so Rightwingers are losing this battle.
According to Smithsonian, July 2022 net US pricing for energy:
solar electricity costs $36 per megawatt
wind = $43/mw
natural gas = $60/mw
coal = $108/mw
nuclear = $167/mw
Despite all the rightwinger whine, the USA would be stupid to invest in any additional nuclear or coal energy plants anywhere. Natural gas can serve as a reliable base fuel for a while but renewables need to be installed as fast as possible. Not for the planet, but to save tightwad right wing blowhards some of their precious money. Which is an artificial renewable resource, by the way…..