Reducing institutional barriers to solar energy through the use of cooperatively-owned solar energy systems
Despite the conceptual attractiveness of solar energy systems for space-heating applications, the market penetration rate of solar systems remains low. The physical, economic, and institutional barriers to acceptance that cause this disappointing performance are closely related to the present political, social, and economic structure, and so are proving difficult and time-consuming to lower. However, aggregating small solar systems into larger cooperative ventures can avoid many of these barriers altogether. This “product-fit” approach could greatly increase the diffusion rate of solar energy systems into the economy, thereby replacing fossil-fuel uses sooner and to a greater extent than previously expected.
Legal barriers to solar heating and cooling of buildings
Ways solar energy will probably be used and legal problems its would-be users may encounter are considered. The barriers are reviewed under the following subjects: solar access and land-use issues; building codes; home financing; utilities; mandatory installation; ERDA patent policy; antitrust and fostering competition; labor union resistance and conflicts; property taxes; mobile homes; and tort liability, insurance, and warranties. A bibliography is included. (MHR)
Changes in retail energy prices and the consumer price index
Household energy use patterns and retail energy price trends for electicity, gas, oil and coal, and gasoline are examined for the period 1950–74. The major results of this examination are listed below. 1.1. Households directly use about one-third of the Nation's total energy: 22% in their homes and 13% in their autiomobiles. In 1974, American households spent $70 billion on the 25 QBtu of fuel they consumed directly.2.2. The Consumer Price Indices for fuels showed sizable changes between 1950 and 1974. Electricity prices (“real prices, not “nominal” prices) declined 27% between 1950 and 1970 and then climbed 9% between 1970 and 1974. Gas prices increased 9% during the 1950s, declined 15% during the 1960s, and rose 4% between 1970 and 1974. Oil and coal prices remained nearly constant between 1950 and 1965; between 1965 and 1972 prices declined 5%; since then prices increased more then 50%. Gasoline prices remained nearly constant between 1950 and 1965; the next seven years saw a 14% decline followed by a 26% increase between 1972 and 1974.3.3. The energy price changes proposed by President Ford in January 1975 would, if implemented, increase the Comsumer Price Index by about 1.3% due to direct impacts and another 0.9% due to indirect impacts—a total increase of 2.2%.