Solar energy continues to get more cost-effective, as dirty energy continues to get costlier — both in terms of money and environmental impact.
For evidence, look no further than tech giant Microsoft, which expects solar power to be at least half of the company's energy mix by 2025.
According to a recent report from the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), Microsoft is now the fifth-biggest corporate solar user in the United States. And as Brian Janous, the company's GM of energy and renewables, told Emerging Tech Brew, the plan is to continue investing in solar energy at an accelerated pace.
Large, for-profit companies are typically concerned with one thing: making money. So if giant corporations like Microsoft, Apple, Walmart, and Meta — all of which rank among the top five in corporate solar use — are investing heavily in solar energy, that means the numbers are showing that clean energy may soon be a crucial part of running a profitable business.
Of course, the fact that solar energy is cheaper and better in the long run is not news. The use of solar energy is growing rapidly and dramatically throughout the U.S.
It is more accessible than ever for individual homeowners. And new technological advancements continue to improve the process and make it even more efficient. But seeing it adopted by these big companies is a heartening confirmation of that fact.
"If I go back three or four years, the majority of what we were doing was wind," Janus told Emerging Tech Brew. "Microsoft's Solar was still sort of coming down that learning curve, from a cost standpoint. And then, really, about two years ago, it started to just flip. And suddenly, we started doing a lot more solar transactions."
Though the company is not expected to release its full solar data until the end of Q1 2023, Janous told the outlet that "our pace has not slowed in the pivot to cleaner energy.
That trend looks like it will continue well into the future, as more companies realize the benefits of moving from dirty to clean energy sources. As long as the sun is shining, the future is bright.
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