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The Greening of IT
288 How Companies Can Make a Difference for the Environment

Based on history, the price of oil will go up again—probably in 2009.
At the same time that natural gas and coal prices will be going up in
price, the costs of solar and wind should continue to come down.
Improved technologies and better manufacturing efficiencies (as solar
panel and wind turbine makers scale up production) are lowering and
stabilizing clean energy prices.
Some studies in 2008 concluded that solar power will reach cost par-
ity with most electric rates in the United States in less than a decade, by
2015. In general, as solar prices continue to fall and utilities embrace
solar power more aggressively, the United States could generate 10 per-
cent of its electric power (up from less than one percent today) from the
sun by 2025. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy released a report
detailing a realistic path for wind power to contribute 20 percent of the
nation’s electricity by 2030. It is a complex economic situation, but as
oil, coal, and natural gas get more expensive, clean energy looks better
by comparison—not even taking into account the environmental,
climate, and domestic job creation benefits.
In the United States, the new administration has indicated a big
ptg
push to create green energy jobs. That push will help accelerate the
price crossover point, where clean alternative energy becomes cost-
competitive with carbon-based energy.