That's not entirely accurate at this point. Solar doesn't last very long and requires nearly constant upgrades to keep running efficiently.
The big problem with solar is two fold:
- It's not very efficient at all.
- The panels have a very short effective life span.
At this point, the typical solar panel has about a 20 year life span. But what they don't really tell you is that their efficiency drops by between 1 and 2% per year (and that's on a very good panel). So in just 10 years time, you're going to lose somewhere between 10% and 20% of the panels effective power and up to 30% in some cases.
When you start with idea that it takes about 45,000 dollars to outfit the typical house with enough panels to run it, that's a TON of money. Over 20 years, that amounts to $187.50 per month if you're paying cash no interest to pay for the panels.
Now, when you start factoring in the power loss over time, you need to either start replacing panels or adding panels to maintain the same energy levels. That jacks the price up to around $220.00 per month.
Then, right about the time you pay off the panels 20 years later, they're pretty much garbage so you have to trash them and start all over again.
This is, of course, before you even start talking about the batteries, backup systems and things of that nature.
For now, solar is, at best, a band-aid for our energy problems. Nuclear and Wind are going to lead the way for the foreseeable future.
I give it about another 100 years before advances in Solar become so powerful and so cheap that they will pretty much completely take over for day to day power needs.