IBM recently debuted its System Onequantum computer. It’s not the biggest or most powerful computer the company makes. But IBM thinks it’s the one that’ll end up in a museum 50 years from now, and it’s hard not to agree. The IBM Q System One consolidates thousands of components into a glass-enclosed, air-tight environment.

In a recent interview with IBM‘s CTO, Quantum Computing, Bob Wisnieff he related some interesting insights into what it was like to develop and build the System One. He said the original idea was to show that IBM could make a reliable, functioning quantum computer that existed entirely outside of a laboratory.

IBM‘s System One is unique. It’s a legitimate quantum computing system that exists in a big box. It doesn’t have to be connected to a massive cooling system inside of a lab (it has its own, just like a mainframe or a PC). And it doesn’t require a physicist to dive under the hood every time you want to do something with it.
IBM Q Network organizations can program and run code on it right now.

The big picture wasn’t about what 20 qubits shoved inside a box can or can’t do, Wisnieff said. It’s about the fact it exists at all. He continued:

“What I like best is that we get to be in the right place at the right time for quantum computing, this is a joy project. This design represents a pivotal moment in tech.”

The “pivotal moment” bit might sound hyperbolic. Especially if you’ve seen the System One’s underwhelming coverage. James Vincent at The Verge, in an articleabout the System One, said:

"In the grueling race to build a practical quantum computer, tech companies are keeping their spirits up by loudly cheering every milestone — no matter how small."

Kieren McCarthy of The Register wrote an articleabout the system with the headline: “If you’ve been dying to run some math on a dinky toy quantum computer, IBM may have something for you.”

The quantum team at IBM spent about six months last year tossing ideas around, mostly trying to come up with solutions to the little problems that plague a project like this.

“In one way, you want to isolate the qubits from the universe,” Wisnieff said, before explaining “but you also have to have access to read and measure them.” Just one of many problems faced by an engineering team developing something that’s never been built before.

Once these problems got sorted, the IBM engineers and physicists then began working with design experts from Goppion, the company responsible for some of the world’s most famous museum-quality display cases, Universal Design Studioand Map Project Office. This was Wisnieff’s dream team.

These companies were chosen after IBM‘s Director of Research, Dario Gil, gave Wisnieff carte blanche to find the best designers in the world. Wisnieff said this was because Gil realized the significance of the project.

As Wisnieff explained the process of building the System One, it became clear the intent was never to create a device that would suddenly usher the era of commercial quantum computing into reality. IBM Research is working on that, so are Google and Intel and a bunch of other companies. But that’s not what System One was designed for.

There are plenty of qualified, sane experts who believe quantum computing technology will never amount to anything. Meanwhile, the physicists and engineers working on them understand they’ll be one of the most significant advancements in human history.

That’s a lot for a discerning public to put up with in their daily news feed and monthly science magazine. But when IBM built a functioning quantum computer in a box and demoed it at CES, it showed the entire world that quantum computers are here right now. And they’re only getting started.

It doesn’t matter if it can solve major problems or not. It’s not essential whether the System One will ever be sold as a commercial product or not – it almost certainly won’t. 
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What matters is that IBM took something that looked like this:

It’s real. You can touch it.
Fifty years from now MIT‘s physics lab, Google‘s quantum research center, or IBM’s large quantum lab won’t be faithfully recreated in a giant quantum museum. Instead, an actual quantum computer will sit inside one.
IBM unveiled the world’s first, and only, functioning integrated quantum computer that exists entirely outside of a lab. It’s not the quantum computer that will change everything. But it might be the one your grand-kids read about on page one of that chapter in their science textbooks.

Several companies demonstrated C-V2X (cellular vehicle-to-everything)communications technology developed by Qualcomm at CES 2019. But Ford may be the most aggressive in bringing C-V2X to market. The Detroit automaker will add it to every new car and truck sold in the United States by 2022, Don Butler, executive director for Ford connected vehicle platform and product, wrote in a blog post.

C-V2X is the latest incarnation of so-called vehicle-to-everything (V2X), a communications technology that allows cars to “talk” to each other and infrastructure. The claimed advantage of this technology is that it can warn a driver of things beyond his or her line of sight. If a car is stopped at an intersection with poor visibility, it could, for example, pick up signals from other V2X-equipped cars or sensors mounted on nearby buildings to tell the driver if it’s okay to go.

Vehicles could also communicate with stoplights, telling drivers when a light is about to change. Audi already offers this in the form of its Traffic Light Information system. The system gives a countdown when a light is about to turn green, but it only works in a handful of cities (Audi also offers a built-in toll transponder that relies on V2X tech). Aptiv has placed sensors on traffic lights in Las Vegas to guide its self-driving cars, even when they’re onboard cameras don’t have a direct line of sight to the light.

Ford could take things even further, Butler wrote. C-V2X could be integrated with driver aids, like those in Ford’s recently introduced Co-Pilot360 suite. Or it could be added to self-driving cars. Emergency vehicles could be equipped with C-V2X transmitters, allowing cars to detect their presence and move out of the way.

The difference between the C-V2X tech embraced by Ford and previous systems is that it’s based on 5G. All other V2X systems to-date have used a competing setup called Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC). But that means Ford will have to rely on the smooth rollout of 5G. Even the deployment of DSRC-based V2X vehicles and infrastructure has been slow, and DSRC is based on a more familiar technology derived from Wi-Fi.

“A conducive regulatory environment must be in place for C-V2X to be deployed, which is why we are working just as much with industry and government organizations to create such a technology-neutral environment,” Butler wrote in his blog post. He also told Bloombergthat he hopes other automakers will adopt C-V2X alongside Ford. He added that C-V2X is a simpler solution because telecom companies are already spending billions on 5G cell towers and antennas, while DSRC would require a separate government investment.
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Despite the potential hurdles, Qualcomm expects C-V2X and other related technologies to become a significant part of its business. The company believes that, within five years, 75% of cars will have some form of connectivity. A critical mass of vehicles will be needed to realize the technology’s full benefit since cars that aren’t equipped with C-V2X or similar systems can’t communicate with each other. The more vehicles on the network, the more effective it is.

Google has won approval to bolster work on its Minority Report-style touchless technology, which enables electronics to be controlled by hand gestures.

The Federal Communications Commission has approved Google’s plans to use more powerful sensors for its Project Soli initiative, first unveiled in 2015. The radar-based technology is now poised to kick on to the next level after Google was given special permission to use higher frequencies for its tests.

When Google first showcased the tech in 2015, it came under the X Labs banner and was focused on smartwatches, with specific gestures replacing a physical tap on the touchscreen. For example, it was possible to rub two fingers together in the vicinity of the watch to cycle through menus or turn up the volume of media.

Now the company could expand the operation to enable the sci-fi like air gestures we’ve seen in films like Minority Report and the Iron Man franchise, on larger screens and devices. The waiver granted by the FCCcould also be highly beneficial to tech users with mobility, speech, and tactile impairments.

In a statement (via Reuters), the FCC said: “The ability to recognize users’ touchless hand gestures to control a device, such as a smartphone, could help people with mobility, speech, or tactile impairments, which in turn could lead to higher productivity and quality of life for many members of the American public.”
The regulator also said there’s little chance of Google’s Project interfering with other spectrum users and has approved the tech for use on aircraft.
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Google hasn’t commented on the news yet, but it’ll be interesting to see what the company has in mind for Project Soli moving forward. Hopefully, we’ll find out more in 2019.

Since we’re early in the year, this might be a good time to propose some predictions for tomorrow’s smart home.

Video Kills the Telephone Call. The proliferation of smart speakers has continued unabated nearly since their inception, but recently we’ve seen a new feature taking center stage on these do-it-all devices – video. 

Amazon kicked off the trend, as it often does, with its Echo Show, a variant of the popular Amazon Echo series that featured a forward-facing camera and a tablet-like touchscreen attached to a smart speaker base. It followed up that effort with its reimagining of the alarm clock, the Echo Spot, a smaller orb-shaped smart speaker that includes a circular touchscreen face and similarly positioned camera. 

Google soon followed suit, adding the Google Home Hub, an upgrade of its Google Home smart speaker that, like the Show, featured a touchscreen tablet. Now Facebook has gotten in on the action with the release of Portal, a smart speaker/touchscreen, powered by Amazon’s A.I. assistant Alexa, with a strong focus on video-calling. 

While the merits of video functionality are readily apparent for smart speakers – users can follow recipes with hands-free commands, check the weather or map routes, or just catch up on shows while multi-tasking around the house – there seems to be a real push for these video-equipped hubs to replace the phone as the communication device of choice in homes. 

For Facebook Portal, this is expressly the case, with all other smart speaker features coming almost as afterthoughts to its prime purpose of visual-based communications. So committed to the cause of video chatting is the Portal that the Portal+ device can recognize users as they move and automatically rotate to follow them, allowing chat participants to remain on screen as they move from kitchen to couch. 

While Apple has not announced plans for a video element for its HomePod, the company has recently upgraded the capabilities of its iOS-based video chatting app, FaceTime, allowing users to communicate with up to 32 people on a call at one time. 

It remains to be seen if a rise in video communication-capable devices leads to a growth in video-chatting – consumers often don’t use products in the ways manufacturers intended. But even if an explosion of video-equipped smart speakers doesn’t lead to a golden age of people looking each other in the eye while communicating, at least everyone will be able to watch “The Great British Bake-Off” while making breakfast.
Smart Services. Throughout their history, smart homes have been defined by the intelligent devices they house. Voice-controlled lighting, thermostats that automatically adjust with the weather, coffee pots that begin brewing when they recognize you’re awake – products that save labor, money or time via automation and connectivity. 

But what about those tasks for which no single device will suffice? The chores – laundry, grocery shopping, home maintenance – that, short of a robotic butler, will require some manual labor on the part of the homeowner? 

Brace for the rise of smart services – automated fulfillment of the daily tasks that make an uninterrupted life possible. 

“Replenishment” is one area where these smart services are already established, and we should expect to see further growth. Beyond services like Peapod, you may have noticed that nearly every grocery chain of substantial size is offering some manner of automated ordering – and reordering – and delivery, either via an app or website. This process allows customers with a good grasp of their consumption habits to ensure that their homes are never out of their favorite foods, with specific items in specific quantities being automatically delivered at regular intervals. 

But expect producers to take thinking even further out of the process. Leveraging technologies like Amazon Dash, developers will start programming the household devices to recognize when they are running low on supply and automatically reorder the goods. Like WePlenish, a smart coffee pod container that keeps track of inventory levels and automatically orders more java when needed, so you never have to experience a caffeine-less existence. Will we see the refrigerator that automatically orders tomatoes? Or the soap dispenser that refills itself? The possibilities are endless – and likely, as automated reordering is an activity manufacturers can firmly get behind. 
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Task Oriented. But what about the tasks that keep your house running that require some measure of manual labor, like cleaning and maintenance? Here, too, we should expect to see app- and device-based solutions that call in reinforcements with some measure of regular automation when the chores need to get done. Like Cleanly, an app that allows users to schedule pickup and drop-off of their laundry, fresh and folded, within 24 hours. The latest version of certain home standards, like washers and dryers, can run their own diagnostic programs, identifying errors when they arise – how long before these machines can request their own maintenance when need? How long before a pool probe can send out a call when it needs cleaning? Or gutters can identify when they need to cleared? 

In addition to the rise of these automated services, we should expect to see growth of the technologies that help facilitate them. Technologies like Ring video doorbells or August smart locks, which can allow homeowners to identify who is at their door – like the Cleanly delivery person – and grant them temporary access to your abode. 

That is if a human even delivers your goods anymore. 

Delivery Improvements. Walmart recently announced a pilot programwith Ford and Postmates to examine the automated delivery of groceries via autonomous self-driving vehicles. Likewise, grocery chain Kroger announced a partnershipwith Nuro to tackle the most challenging task of ordering online, “last-mile delivery” – that is, getting the requested goods from the store to the customer’s home, a feat they also hope to accomplish with robotic drivers. 
The result of the endless automation of anything approaching “difficult” should enable individuals to lead lives unhampered in pursuit of their goals – be it increased productivity in matters personal or professional, or the much more noble pursuit of binge-watching Netflix while moving as little as possible.

A team of researchers from IBM, the University of Waterloo, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) recently published the results of an experiment proving a quantum computer can do things a classical one cannot. This may be a watershed moment in the history of computer science.

The term for a clear case in which a quantum computer can perform computations or run algorithms that no classical computer, now or in the conceivable future, could is “quantum advantage.” Until now, it’s never been achieved.

Sure, there are algorithms that, theoretically couldn’t be run on a classical system. But none of those theories have been proven. Now quantum advantage is no longer up for debate.

One of the authors on the paper, TUM’s Robert Konig, told Phys.org “Our result shows that quantum information processing does provide benefits – without having to rely on unproven complexity-theoretic conjectures.”

The team set out, specifically, to prove that quantum computers can do something (anything, really) regular computers can’t. To do this, they built a quantum circuit that solves a complex algebraic formula through the exploitation of a quantum physics loophole allowing things to be in two places at once – no biggie.

This particular formula, according to the researchers, cannot be solved using classical computer circuits. You can read the whole paper here if you want to know more about how the team demonstrated the actual quantum advantage.

As for what this accomplishment means? Well, there’s nothing tangible to point out. The algorithm that the researchers ran wasn’t an algebraic mystery whose solution will result in any immediate impact – at least as best as we can tell. It was, almost certainly, developed merely to prove that it could be done.

But that’s the point. By showing that the people claiming quantum advantage was a fantasy were wrong and that the research is heading in the right direction, we’re closer than ever to realizing the potential of quantum computing.

The field of quantum computing may be decades from producing something that changes “everything” in the way that media hype and marketing teams would have us all believe. But proof of quantum advantage is the guarantee that this research is going to pay off someday.
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Hats off to the team that made it happen. For more information visit IBM’s blog here.

Some people are entirely unaware of just how filthy their smartphones are. Other people know full well that smartphones are a hotbed for bacteria, but they still don’t bother to do anything about it. The PhoneSoap 3 UV Cell Phone Sanitizeris a device that was initially funded on Shark Tank that should be an essential accessory for every smartphone owner. It’s a box that blasts your phone with UV light, killing 99.99% of bacteria on both sides and the edges of your phone. Please, do yourself a favor and get one, they are $60 on Amazon.

Here’s more info from the product page:

•  AS SEEN ON SHARK TANK AND DISCOVERY CHANNEL.PhoneSoap’s revolutionary bacteria-zapping technology was featured on ABC’s Shark Tank and tested and proven on the Discovery Channel.

•. KILLS 99.99% OF BACTERIA WITH UV LIGHT.Our patented design is the only device that can thoroughly sanitize your entire phone. Sitting on a UV transparent plate and surrounded by scientifically proven germicidal UVC light and a reflective interior, PhoneSoap kills99.99% of all bacteria on your phone.

•  STAY HEALTHY.Our phones gather all the bacteria we touch throughout the day where they breed and grow. Our phones are Petri dishes in our pockets! Stay healthy by keeping your devices clean with PhoneSoap.

•  FITS AND CHARGES ANY PHONE. PhoneSoap 3 fits all phones, including the larger phones such as the iPhone 8 Plus. It also has two charging ports on the back of the device, a USB and USB-C. You already charge your phone every night. Now you can charge and sanitize at the same time. With PhoneSoap 3 you can charge a second device, such as a smartwatch, at the same time.

•  CLEAN WHATEVER FITS.While we have built PhoneSoap 3 around sanitizing phones, you can sanitize whatever fits inside. From pacifiers, smart watches and headphones to credit cards and keys.

British scientists have developed a self-contained and tamper-proof "quantum compass" that doesn't rely on GPS signals to provide a highly accurate measure of where it is in the world.

The compass is a quantum accelerometer that is capable of measuring tiny shifts in supercooled atoms and so calculate how far and how fast the device has moved. Having a device like the quantum compass aboard a ship, the captain knows exactly where his ship is without having to rely on orbiting satellites.

The system has been designed by quantum physicistsat Imperial College, London – who developed a laser system for cooling atoms down and at photonics and quantum technology specialist firm M Squared– which developed another laser system to act as an “optical ruler.” Their work has been funded by the UK's Ministry of Defense.

Although GPS satellites are a modern marvel and are used by just about everyone to identify their precise location, the fact is the system is not perfect.

A phone's GPS is accurate to roughly 15 feet, although military GPS devices can be accurate to centimeters. Then there is the fact that tall buildings will often throw a signal off and signals can be impaired by any large, dense object.

But that's not why the Ministry of Defense is interested in a quantum compass: its concern is that the GPS system is vulnerable to attack or deliberate disruption. A GPS signal could be spoofed or blocked for instance. When you're thinking about nuclear submarines, it's usually best to consider the worst.

“Pirates are now sophisticated enough to cause disruptions to ships’ GPS systems and lure them to rocks or take over and board them,” said Graeme Malcolm, the CEO of M Squared.

“They can be an even bigger issue in areas of defense and security, where the resilience and security of cities and countries are impacted. This new device is an absolute reference that goes down to the atomic level.”

Accuracy. This is not the first time that accelerometers have been used for navigation, but the reality is that such systems are not sufficiently accurate, meaning that as time goes on the system becomes increasingly out of whack and requires recalibration.

Not so with the quantum compass, according to its makers. Lasers are used to supercool atoms, and then another laser is used to act as "optical ruler" measuring how far those atoms have moved. At extremely low temperatures, atoms behave in a ‘quantum’ way, acting like both matter and waves.

Here's how Dr. Joseph Cotter, from the Centre for Cold Matter at Imperial College, explained it: "When the atoms are ultra-cold, we have to use quantum mechanics to describe how they move, and this allows us to make what we call an atom interferometer."

As the atoms move, their wave properties are affected by the acceleration of the vehicle. The optical ruler can measure these minute changes very accurately and then with a few relatively simple equations it is possible to figure out exactly where you are.

Size. But this is not something you're going to find in your smartphone: the prototype system is about three-feet wide and high, and it is incredibly expensive.
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Plus, it can currently only measure in one plane. The scientists say they will soon be able to take measurements in three planes – making it an entirely independent super compass that can tell you where exactly it is at any point.

 Moore's law – the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles about every two years while the costs are halved. 
          Gordon Moore, Fairchild Semiconductor (1965)
 
"Moore's Law is over," says Mike Muller, chief technology officer at chip designer Arm, the Japanese-owned company whose processor cores are found inside most mobile phones.

Given Moore's Law has been the engine driving the breakneck pace at which computers have advanced over the past 50 years this statement might seem worrying.

"On one level it's true, but I'd say, certainly from my perspective and Arm's perspective, we don't care," he says.

Muller and his colleagues have good reasons for their indifference to the end of Moore's Law.

For one, the bulk of Arm-based processors are sold into the embedded computing market, where there is still plenty of scope for transistors to get smaller and chips to get faster.

But more importantly, Arm believes the regular boosts to computing performance that used to come from Moore's Law will continue and will instead stem from changes to how chips are designed.

Here are three ways that Arm expects processor design will evolve and advance.
 
1. 3D chips will continue to improve processor performance. Muller believes chip designers will continue to squeeze more power from processors by stacking more transistors and processor dies on top of each other.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff happening in 3D, whether that's within the silicon and 3D transistors stacking within a die, [or] stacking dies together," he said.

2. Computers will rely on increasingly specialized chips. Today's systems offload workloads to processors tailored to accelerate tasks. For example, offloading 3D rendering to GPUs or running trained machine-learning models on Google's TPUs, Muller predicts future systems will have an even more full range of specialized chips.

Greg Yeric, director of Future Silicon Technology for Arm Research, says there's plenty of runway to continue improving accelerators.

"For the next three to five years there's a lot to be gained just by making better CMOS-based machine learning," he says.

3. Computers will move beyond silicon chips. Soon, it's possible we will reach the limits of conventional materials and technologies used to build processors, such as the CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) chips used today, says Yeric.

At this point, the chips inside systems will become more diverse, with traditional CMOS chips sitting alongside more exotic forms of information processors.

"We're going to start to see accelerators that are hardware differentiated," says Yeric.

"So, you can have a special kind of transistor that does one thing really well, [which] doesn't necessarily do all [computing] well, and you can have a chip that bolts onto a regular CMOS chip.

"We have widgets that vastly outperform CMOS on certain things. It could be photonics; it could be spintronics; it could be new memory.

"Architecting those systems is going to be a bit more of a challenge. However, I really don't see that we're going to have a slowdown at the system level, it's just that the systems won't look like a big monolithic piece of CMOS."

Muller says to expect the likes of neuromorphic, spintronics, and even quantum photonic chips to find their way inside systems.

"There is going to be in the 10-15-year timeframe new technology to take us beyond CMOS," he says.
"Products, as bought by people like you and me, are just going to keep getting better and better.
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"Our jobs [chip designers] might be getting harder and harder, but from a consumer's perspective there isn't going to be a slowing down," he says.

Google might have just made itself the most significant example of how security keyscan work better than other forms of multi-factor authentication. According to Krebs on Security,ever since Google required over 85,000 of its employees to use physical security keys instead of one-time codes in 2017, it hasn't had a single case of account takeover from phishing. "We have had no reported or confirmed account takeovers since implementing security keys at Google," a company spokesperson said. "Users might be asked to authenticate using their security key for many different apps/reasons. It all depends on the sensitivity of the app and the risk of the user at that point in time."

Security keys like the one made by Yubikey give you a way to log into a website by merely plugging it in and pressing a button. You don't even need to type in your password anymore, much less generate a one-time code. While the method has its weakness, considering it relies on a physical item you can lose, it's considered safer than two-factor authentication, especially the type that sends you codes via SMS. Hackers could intercept messages sent to your device, after all, and gain entry to your account that way.
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Unfortunately, Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) – that's what you call the type of multi-factor authentication that uses physical keys – support is pretty limited at the moment. You can already depend on it for protection on Chrome, but you'd have to manually activate it on Firefox by going to "about:config" first. Microsoft won't be rolling out U2F compatibility for Edgeuntil later this year, and Apple has yet to reveal whether Safari will ever support the standard. Further, only a few websites and services can use it, including Facebook and password managers such as Keepass and LastPass. It remains to be seen if Google's positive experience with the standard can help it become more widespread, but it's the kind of meaningful testimonial that could give it a massive boost.

Installing solar panels in your home can lower your environmental footprint and your monthly bills, but there are also some disadvantages you should know. Here are seven issues to consider.

1 Solar Panels Don’t Require Maintenance.Despite what solar panel makers may tell you, maintenance of the panels is not a problem once you have them installed. Solar panel manufacturers try to get people to lease solar panels, insisting that then the homeowner won’t have to worry about maintenance. Don’t let this get to you! The only thing you have to do is keep the panels clear of debris, by using a garden hose, out of direct sunlight, a few times a year.

2 SRECs and Tax Credits Aren’t Forever.Solar panel manufacturers will push you to invest in their product for many reasons, including the promise of SRECs (Solar Renewable Energy Credit) and tax credits. Every Megawatt-hour of electricity produced by your solar panels results in an SREC. In some states, SRECs are sold to utility companies, who then pay homeowners for each SREC they purchase. While such credits are a great incentive, they’re not a forever promise. For example, the Federal Solar Tax Credit will end for home solar in 2021.

3 The Effectiveness of Your Solar Panels Drops Each Year.It’s not a significant drop, but solar panel manufacturers aren’t going to be quick to disclose that efficiency of panels drops each year slightly. For panels manufactured after 2000, a 20-year-old panel will produce around 92% of its original power. 

4 You Should Be Careful of Your Warranty.It’s essential you do research on the solar panel manufacturers out there and hone in on which one has the best warranty. Most warranties last for 20 to 25 years, but for them to follow through, the manufacturer must still be in business. As always, choose a manufacturer with a solid reputation.

5 The Production of Solar Panels Creates Pollution.Solar is held up as an energy-saving, environmentally-friendly powerhouse. And while that’s undoubtedly true in many cases, the transportation and installation of solar energy systems are linked with the emission of greenhouse gases. Toxic materials and hazardous products have also been associated with the manufacturing process.

6 You Might Not Want Solar If You Have Low Electricity Costs.Solar is enticing for many reasons, most notably for financial and environmental sustainability. But if you don’t have substantial electricity costs, to begin with, you might want to reconsider investing in solar, since, if your electricity costs are low, your solar savings will be as well. Along with the size of your home and your usage, where you live also has an impact on your energy costs. For instance, in Louisiana, the cost of electricity is 27% lower than the national average.
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7 You May Not Be a Good Candidate for Solar Energy. Along with living in a state with low electricity costs, there are other things to consider regarding solar energy. For instance, you might need to cut down trees that shade and beautify your home, and that can be very expensive. You may not even have the right roof to support solar panels structurally. These aren’t topics that solar panel companies are going to put right out there, but you should think of all of these things as you consider your options. Are you a good candidate for solar? Here’s what you need to know.