Here Comes The Sun
If it were up to the sun, we would have no energy problem. Every half hour on the Earth’s surface, there is more than enough light to provide energy needs for the whole world in a year. We don’t have an energy problem, we have a conversion problem. If we are able to harvest sunlight in smart way, then we can prevent a global energy crisis.
That sounds nice but that does not mean it will succeed, at least that is what many different bodies want us to believe. It’s too expensive, takes too much space, too much material, it costs more energy than it brings, and it is still not efficient enough. While all these doubts play a role for solar energy in the distant future, it is still a marginal player in the global energy game.
Back-light takes the edge off these myths and shows that a solar economy is much closer than we think. Next year, there are already rolling Giga Watts of solar cells on the conveyor belt. The industry has mastered the technology and the machines.
Radical German government measures have proved that it is possible. Villagers have completely installed solar power on empty lands. Power stations contribute to the network and where they are deserved. Many countries follow the German example: The Americans have their Grand Solar Plan and the French President Sarkozy is talking about a solar plan with the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Spanish electricity producers, oil companies will be left out. So what energy crisis? The sun is coming!
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I don’t see the long term utility of “solar farms”, that just replaces one concentration of power (AKA monopoly or cartel) with another. Cartels can be very efficient but they trade robustness for efficiency; we need solar panels and wind generators on every building can be self-contained with a power grid to provide load balancing.
Next time I’ll finish the video before pontificating…
Anyway, solar panels in clothing is another option:
http://www.afrigadget.com/2009/08/26/hacking-the-flap-bag/
If we could only convince U.S. politicians to stop accepting bribes from the oil and weapons corporations, we could use the untold billions they now spend on militarism to solve the energy problem here at home.
The cost of invading and occupying oil-producing countries (sold to naive Americans as a “war on terror”) is bankrupting us.
Make some noise about this!!!