China produces the largest amount of solar power in the entire world. In fact, China produces more solar power than the United States, Italy, & the entire United Kingdom combined.
What are they doing differently than us?
Well, for starters, Solar Power is one of the largest industries in all of mainland China. In 2007, nearly half of the world’s production of Solar Panels happened there, although 99% of the panels were being exported to other countries.
Now, China has quadrupled its production of panels, surpassing the entire global demand.
However, China’s implementation of solar power doesn’t stop there – solar water heating is also used extensively throughout the entire country, & in 2015, 77.42 GW of Solar Energy were produced – meaning there was enough solar power generated to energize 59,554 homes for an entire year.
How does Canada measure up?
Being passionately Canadian, it’s hard for me to say this, but: It doesn’t. At all. In that same year (2015), less than 1% of the total energy produced in our beautiful country was by solar; 4.6% was created by wind, and the rest was produced by other means, meaning on a global scale, we don’t even make the top 5.
As the second largest land mass on the globe, and with a heck of a lot fewer people than China & the many other countries beating us out for solar production, I think we could do quite a lot better.
As a general principle, reducing our footprint is obviously a good idea, but what about reducing our hydro bills?
On-Peak hydro rates in Ontario are at 13.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, and the average monthly hydro bill in the province is roughly $294, with the rural areas often paying quite a lot more. In the 8 years from 2008 to 2016, Ontario’s hydro rates skyrocketed a total of 71%.
Not only is this unfair, it’s completely inexplicable. With the heightened availability of solar technology that Canada is capable of & has received, there is no reason why anyone in this country should be paying ridiculous delivery fees to hydro companies that only seem to care about paying their top executives.
Instead of putting your money directly into the pockets of the CEOs, why not invest in yourselves, and put solar on your roof? Solar is a simple solution, that many people have overlooked, or simply haven’t been exposed to.
If you want to reduce your hydro bill, go solar and make a lasting impact on the reduction of your family’s footprint, contact Brightworks and find out how we can help.