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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-future-is-looking-brighter dept.

New data from the Solar Jobs Census 2016 shows that employment in the solar-power industry increased by a historic 25% nationwide from 2015 to 2016, for a total of 260,077 workers.

The industry added 51,218 new jobs in 2016, a growth rate about 17 times faster than that of the overall U.S. economy, which grew by 1.45%. One out of every 50 new jobs added in the U.S. was created by the solar industry, representing 2% percent of all new jobs.

Growth occurred in 44 of the 50 states. And in 21 states, solar jobs grew by 50% or more, according to The Solar Foundation.

Competition among manufacturers has already brought down the cost of panels to grid parity in many places. Competition in installation can't help but bring those costs down, too.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @10:19PM (#486222)

    First anon here. When I had my roof done, the old shingles were cracking and mossy on the north side, but no leaks. Once the two original layers were off, the roofers were very complimentary, the sheathing is 3/4" real plywood from 1963 and everything was super solid, no signs of past leaking or other problem. Plenty of strength to support the weight differential between asphalt shingles and glass/solar shingles (but probably not heavy slate tiles--that isn't a common roofing material around here). Sigh...it will be another 25-30 years before this house is ready for another roof.

    Did you look at the photo in the Buffalo News article? By shingling the whole roof, it looks *different* from shingles, but probably would not upset the neighbors because it is uniform. If you happen to live in an area where the neighbors object to "things" then putting up separate solar panels can raise some eyebrows.