This is an idea I've been kicking around and would like to get some outside opinions on. What objections can you come up with to using flexible solar modules as monetary units and as money itself. Assuming we can bring down the cost of manufacturing 1 watt solar modules to a price comparable to what it costs to print paper bills, do you think flexible solar cells would make an interesting and multipurpose modern alternative to paper bills? We can already make flexible solar panel cells about the size of a paper bill and smaller, making them easy to carry and put in a wallet: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Not only are they extremely durable looking (and probably are compared to paper bills) but suppose we constructed these single unit solar cells so that they could be slid into a frame with other solar cells in series or parallel to form a connection and a large working solar panel of the equivalent wattage that you can use to collect electricity from the sun to power your electrical devices and appliances? In other words, let's say we made it so the single flexible solar cell panel above could form a larger flexible solar panel with other cells to something like this: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Or they could equally be inserted into a solid frame, if you have a preference. Right now, if I checked the right source, it costs about a dollar and change to manufacture a 1 watt solar module. Paper money currently cost in the low cents. So obviously, the price to manufacture solar cells might have to come down first. BUT, solar cells have the added benefit of being able to enable their holder to produce electricity, which could be sold back into the grid or used by the holder to power their household. With the advantage of being able to produce electricity for their holder, and therefore would not be fiat money, as well as serve in monetary exchange, also similar compactness and lightweight of paper bills, do you think solar cells can be a more resource efficient and advantageous form of money? Money, according to wikipedia: "The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.[4][5] Any item or verifiable record that fulfills these functions can be considered money." It seems flexible solar cells could serve all these functions, as well, most convincingly as "a store of value" since the function of solar cells is to collect electricity and store it in batteries, batteries which themselves could serve as the "gold bars". The only flaw I see that would have to be overcome is that, although solar cells would be a commodity money, they would have an expiration date and would lose their value over time with use, whereas a twenty dollar bill printed in 1970 is still worth the same as a twenty dollar bill printed today. So there would have to be some way to replace older solar cells in exchange for new ones, if they were losing their efficiency. Or is this an argument for fiat currency?
So there would have to be some way to replace older solar cells in exchange for new ones, if they were losing their efficiency. One of the more important qualities of money is that it doesn't detoriates/devaluates. Anyway, IF making these things would become as cheap as making paper, the idea could be made to work regardless(work them into all new bills). Though it's a big if, and i 'm not sure whether people would actually want this
Although, as I've mentioned, I realize solar cells devaluate and that paper money ostensibly does not as a whole, in another sense paper money has in fact bought less over time. So it's not really an advantage paper money can lay truly claim to. But I understand the sense to which we both have alluded. However, besides the devaluation issue, what's not to want? Money that can both serve as a unit of exchange and provide electricity for my house, electricity to sell back into the grid and is not a fiat currency and is just as portable in size and weight with increased physical durability? Sign me up. If a way can be devised that we can recycle solar panel cells, as we do a lot of other products, a new federal mint built around such a currency could have refurbishing old panel cells as a major part of its duties, instead of burning old paper money and replacing it with new. Once solar cells are fully recyclable, I suppose it wouldn't take a government decree to fire up such a monetary system. People would merely need to ask to be paid in flexible solar cells to kick start a new monetary trend.
I've been doing some reading and it appears the dilemma of solar panels degrading is not as much of a dilemma as we think it would be. It seems the degradation of solar cell efficiency can be limited if not stopped by keeping the cells unexposed to light and in a temperature controlled environment. It seems heat and, of course, exposure to light are what degrade the efficiency of solar panels. So it seems we can solve this dilemma by simply altering our perspective on how and when we put our solar cells to use. Basically, when we spend paper money, that money disappears in exchange for something else. We don't bemoan its loss as a loss of "efficiency" when our purchase power goes down because we know we are using up our paper money in exchange for something else. If we didn't want to have less money, we shouldn't have spent it. We should have kept our money in the bank where it is safe. The same way of thinking can be applied to using our solar cells. When we employ those solar cells to collect energy from the sun we should consider that "spending" them in exchange for something else. It is exactly analogous to using up our paper money in exchange for other goods and services. If we don't want our solar cells to lose efficiency so they retain their full value, we should set some of them aside to be stored in a safe place free from exposure to light and heat. Such solar cells set aside as savings can be stored in a bank created for such a purpose with insurance to guarantee replacement if any of your solar cells are damaged or lose efficiency much in the same way banks currently are insured against theft of your money. So it seems to me a solar cell currency all works out if you look at it from the right perspective. The problem of degrading efficiency is really not a problem at all because it mostly occurs when the panels are in use generating electricity or exposed to heat and those two things can be controlled.
That they lose efficiency is a very serious argument against them, because it means you don't know how much a given peace of money is worth.
Well, my most recent point was that you have to differentiate between solar cells you would use to collect electricity and those and those you would store away and not use to preserve their full value. Perhaps you could even drop off the unused ones at a bank for credit and the bank would use them in its transactions with people who needed more cells for energy production? Then, when you wanted your cells from the bank, they could honor your credit there with fresh solar cells. As for identifying used solar cells, I don't suppose it would be difficult to equip banks or even private citizens with efficiency testing equipment to gauge value.
