The Future Seems Bright For Solar Energy

There was a time, not all that long ago, when solar energy was pretty much limited to small hand held calculators and little else

. Only the very rich had the money to put solar to use in their homes. Those days have been replaced by a broader range of devices, uses and price ranges.

The history of solar power seemed bright back in the seventies. It was considered the answer to how to generate clean, cheap, unlimited power. The Twentieth Century just did not have the technology or the materials to bring the cost of solar power down to where the common man could afford it.

The Twenty-first Century may just manage to do what the Twentieth could not. The price, at last, is coming down. Solar is already used as a supplemental part of several power plants in the American Southwest. Since latitude is important for consistent solar radiation, this is no surprise.

While everywhere on earth gets the same amount of sunlight, they do not get it at the same rate. The Northern Hemisphere gets the bulk of sunlight from March to September and then the Southern Hemisphere gets its chance. Only at the equator does the sunlight remain close to constant any time of year.

Some places have been using solar for decades. The African continent has used solar panels in remote areas for powering communication stations. Weather stations and small government offices in Kenya have used solar for many years.

What keeps solar power in the background is the price tag. Until the cost of implementing solar is nearly on a par with oil, it will always be a supplemental power source. Recent innovations have begun to put solar within reach of that goal. Nanotechnology, single molecule layering, and high tech materials have opened the way to affordable solar power.

Even now there are commercial power plants that have solar components. In California, and the Southwest of the US solar is beginning to have an impact. Germany and the Netherlands have long had government subsidies for solar and have made significant gains in commercial production.

Solar is now commonly used to recharge batteries of almost any kind. You can order a flexible solar panel to help cool your car when it is parked. And there are concept cars that run on solar alone. Solar energy has been used to fly planes, move bicycles and motorcycles too.

It is quite common to see large retailers advertise their use of solar to gain the loyalty of conservation minded shoppers. Suburban solar panels are ubiquitous where once they were rare. Incorporating solar into a new commercial building or private home is no longer unusual.

It would seem that the promise of cheap, renewable, clean, energy for the masses is actually within reach of reality. Those fortunate enough to live in the sunbelt will probably see the benefits first. And when the means for storing energy from the sun are finally realized, even the Polar Regions will join in the fun.

by: Danny Spetuzza

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