Will solar energy finally be respected as the earths most powerful resource?
Question:
Big Oil and Big Coal were at one point VERY EXPENSIVE and then lowered in price when it became common and popular. Yet the pollution from both is at the very least bad for mankinds lives.
PVC cells come from Silicon which is the 2nd most prevalent resource on earth. The technology is NOT NEW. Its actually over 40 years old.
It can be put literally anywhere as it has nothing to do with temperature.
Sunlight is sunlight.
Many countries where there is less sun do not need solar PVC energy. Iceland where it is dark 3 months out of the year depend on geothermal and hydroelectric energy to power 100% of the country.
Hydroelectric,Wind,Nuclear and Geothermal energy can provide all the energy the USA needs in the evening hours.
A solar PVC system 3 times the size of Rhode Island can power the entire USA during the day. This easily fits in empty areas of Utah,Arizona and Nevada.
And there is room for more !!
Answer:
You make an important point. The sun energy powers solar cells and drives the wind and waves.
A new solar power cell claimed an energy conversion efficiency of 42%, gasoline motors have a lower efficiency. Solar power cells can be placed on top of homes, deserts, carports, hangars, garages, etc. At the current price of oil they are already the most cost-effective -and the price of oil will continue to increase, thanks to our "friends and enemies."
MIT is developing a floating windmill which would allow thousands of huge windmills (each 5 MW) all over the oceans most too far to provide power with a cable.
To collect the energy they could use the electricity, and highly pure water, to make Hydrogen. The same ships that collect the hydrogen would bring the highly purified water.
These windmills are designed to survive storms but can be driven to other locations to avoid one or avoid bird routes.
Their total power capacity could, eventually, exceed that of oil and nuclear power combined.
The big problem with solar is that you cannot store it easily. Batteries are toxic and splitting water into hydrogen is energy intensive. Even then, the hydrogen is very difficult to store, either as a hypercold liquid or as a gas.
One possible solution is to allow solar to do what it does best, grow biomass, but not corn or other human food, rather something like Monster Cane that can grow in unused areas like hillsides and highway medians.
Best plan of all would be to get rid of cars, but that's much easier said than done, at least until gas reaches ten bucks a gallon.
I understand your logic, but the undeniable truth is: it's not profitable. Without profitability, NO company would back it, build it, or maintain it. Until we're living in a society that wants to better itself, get ready for more of the same.
if you don't mind i'll just answer the question
- yes it is recognized as the energy source for ALL LIFE ON EARTH - and ignore the preaching
not in our life times.
Nope.
1) I totally disagree with your assesment that current technology could run solar power for the US with an area 3x the size of Rhode Island. I work at a power regulation company--your numbers are way, way, way off.
2) If we placed solar panels all over the deserts in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada, the impact on our ecosystem would be even more devastating than oil spills ever could be.
3) That said, solar, geothermal, and wind have a place.
4) One day, its possible for technology to advance to where solar could be used... but the big chili pepper is cold fusion. run the planet on little in-home power plants the size of a small thermos bottle that you fill with water once every 10 years.
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