SolarCity, the solar panel company chaired by Elon Musk has unveiled a new set of television commercials they hope will bring about a new challenge within the power industry: simplicity aimed at the consumer.
The three short ads rolled out by SolarCity are 30-second animations; simplicity of the solar panels is played against the coal, oil and gas industry. Fossil fuels, the chief marketing officer Jonathan Beamer explains, is something they hope will be a thing of the past. “My guess is that, in five years, we’ll be much farther along in the process of realizing that coal and oil and gas are dirty and are behind us,” Beamer told Huffington Post.
SolarCity are hoping for new rivals – ones from the clean and renewable energy producers – and it may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. According to the Washington Post, there are more solar jobs that oil extraction jobs. Granted, the jobs in the oil industry pay better, but in light of the Paris accord climate discussions late last year, solar installations should be providing 3.5 percent of the power in the United States within the next four years. This follows the “shut down [of] a record amount of coal-fired power plants in 2015.”
In one commercial fossil fuels are displayed as prehistoric, causing ill health to workers in coal mines while smoke is poured out into the environment. The setting takes up most of the stage in the ad, while the last five seconds simply displays rooftop solar panels and the sun coming up to power them. It becomes an uncomplicated issue for the consumer; giving them an easy choice to make.
According to a report made by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the solar panel industry is now a major competitor with other energy associations:
“Thanks to the ITC, solar energy will add 220,000 new jobs by 2020, and with this extension, the solar industry can achieve its pledge of employing 50,000 veterans. Clean solar energy will cut emissions by 100 million metric tons and replace dozens of dirty power plants. Importantly, in the follow up to the Paris accord, this establishes the United States as a model for the reduction of greenhouse gases.”
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