Solar Energy System is Installed in the U.S. every 4 Minutes

            Many things occur in the United States in a matter of 4 minutes. During that short time span, 30 babies are born, 4,080 Big Macs may be consumed, and 48,000 tons of carbon dioxide are being exhaled. As it also seems, the U.S. is currently installing one solar photovoltaic system every 4 minutes as well. If market growth continues steadily at its current pace, the American solar industry can install a solar system 1 minute and 20 seconds by 2016.
           There has been a drastic difference from 2006, when installers were only putting up one system every 80 minutes. Shayle Kann, Vice President of GTM Research, has conducting a study and produced documents of the accelerating speed of solar deployment in the charts below:

Solar Project Development - There's an app for that!

       In these days where technology is constantly advancing in society, there has continuously been many varieties of apps in the market that may satisfy anyone's needs. Even solar installers and developers have thought of the idea that they should possibly develop their own app (as business is usually operated when you choose to accommodate the needs of the public, which also includes the topic of conveniently having your services be available).
       A recently developed app, known as Solar Site Design (SSD), happens to be a free app available to anyone that may possess a smartphone or any smart electronic device. The app, in essence, is a project management solution for solar professionals in that it helps streamline the project development process by enabling mobile data gathering and uploading project specifications to the content management system. The data for all active projects is, then, available anywhere and anytime (either with the app or on a web browser) so that solar installers and solar professionals are able to view the files on hand.
       Solar Site Design's aim is to reduce the "soft costs" of solar project development by streamlining the process of acquiring new customers and having convenient access to local utility processing and any paperwork required. Project professionals can also input data, pictures, and even videos of the solar site during project walk-throughs and accessibility through the app or the website.
       According to Eco Branding, a company specialized in providing marketing services to clean-tech and sustainable businesses, they compliment the use of SSD as follows:

    Typically, installers will visit each site multiple times, and files permitting and municipality regulations in order to get all the requisite information for feasibility drawings. However, with SSD's free application, installers are guided through a data collection process at their initial sales visit with home or business owners. Once all the data is synced to the Solar Site Design interface, SSD's team of solar engineers look over the data and prepare a feasibility report for the installers. Depending on the scale of the project, the report can take between 2 and 5 business days. This technology reduces costs for contractors and makes it easier to acquire more customers.

Japan and Taiwan: Growing with Clean Energy

        Japan has continuously thrived towards solar energy and other renewable energy sources (as well as being a nation of energy storage), after an earthquake occurred in destroying Fukushima, a nuclear power plant, in March 2011. The government had put in place generous amounts of subsidies for alternative energy development. Both IHS and Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that Japan will be growing extensively towards solar energy than any other country, with the exception of China, in 2013.
        The natural disaster affecting the destruction of Fukushima has also triggered Taiwan to re-evaluate its nuclear power policy and has stirred protests against the construction of a fourth nuclear power plant, which is nearing its completion.
        Taiwan is also subsidizing clean energy and is planning to increase solar and wind energy development. Late last year, the government had raised the 2013 target for new solar energy by 30% to 130 megawatts. Not only this but Taiwan is actually home to major solar cell makers. By promoting more production of solar energy, this would help Taiwan's domestic solar manufacturers, who have been lately devastated by an oversupply of solar cells in the global market over the past two years. This, in turn, has caused prices to crash and forced many solar manufacturers to go out of business.
        However, one of the largest Taiwanese solar cell makers, Neo Solar Power, recently had announced a survival plan to merge with another Taiwanese solar cell maker, DelSolar. Neo Solar had claimed that the combined company will have "close to 2 gigawatts" of production capacity, which would be comparable to First Solar Inc.'s capacity of 1.9 gigawatts.

Miaoli, Taiwan

Solar Market Needs Investors

       According to Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the cost to install solar panels is declining as the solar panel prices have dropped 41% last year compared to 2011. This, in turn, has helped United States solar installations grow 75% in 2012, from the amount of 1,855 megawatts in 2011 to 3,300 megawatts. Because of this steady growth in the solar market, researchers believe that by 2016, solar installations will continue to progress to an estimating amount of 9,000 megawatts.
      However, because there is a lack of investments in the solar market field, these solar projects will never be built or obtained. Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that the industry will need $3.1 billion of equity investment in 2013, compared to $1.8 billion in 2012. Also, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is committed to helping expand the number of investors in solar projects as the opportunity of investing in such projects would yield much profit and it will enhance sustainability in society today.
      Large investors are able to choose between two strategies in terms of investing in these solar projects. The commonly used method would include making investments in large, utility scale projects. For example, recently, there have been residential solar developers creating funds for investors to take stakes in a large number of residential and small commercial solar projects. The other strategy is to have homeowners, whom don't have the upfront capital to purchase solar systems (which estimates the cost up to $15,000 or more), given the option to pay nothing down for solar equipment.
    EDF continues to plan an effort to reach out to potential solar investors to make the environmental case for investing in solar and other renewable projects. After all, investing in solar energy helps spur economic development, create American jobs, allow for energy independence and lessen our carbon footprint.

South Korea envisions solar clad bridge in the future

The near future is coming; countries all over the world are finding ways to produce energy in an infinite amount like a endless cycle of energy that can never diminish. Natural gas will soon be the end of days while people will turn their shoulders towards a new approach, followed by large sums of investors, following a new market trend that will soon go towards wind, solar, and hydrogen powered technology that will change the world. Seems like South Korea is a step ahead, envisioning a solar powered bridge stretching across the famous Han River, powered by solar panels all over it, juicing up malls, museums, libraries, and other public recreational structures. Walking through the Brooklyn Bridge, in my opinion, felt amusing with the amazing view of New York but seeing this makes me think, America needs to catch up with their technology.