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See how solar energy could transform America’s economy

Like it or not, though, what is taking place in the energy field is a radical change in thinking or, as coined by Thomas Kuhn, a paradigm shift .This transformation does not just happen, but is caused by agents of change, and the greatest agents of change in the transition to solar energy will be the American people, themselves.
Newsweek has a nice photo slide show of the progress in solar energy at: http://photo.newsweek.com/content/photo/2008/4/history-of-solar-energy.html

Letting the Sunshine in II: America, the Solar Nation jacksonville.com by Joanne Herrmann on June 24, 2010 Envision this: As the sun rises in the East, solar panels on buildings and utility arrays in cities from north of Boston to New York to Atlanta to south of Miami collect the sun’s power, which not only supplies the energy needs of the East Coast but also exports the excess through smart grids to those cities awakening in the Midwest and slumbering in the darkness along the West Coast. As the earth turns, the cities and utility arrays in the Midwest and those in the West reciprocate. Through an endless, renewable cycle the energy needs of the American people are met. Is this possible? Can planes take off and fly?The realization of this vision, though, requires ongoing scientific research, creative application of entrepreneurial skills, and strong political will.

Progress has already been made. On August 13, 2008, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced a new world record achieved in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8 percent of the light that contacts it into electricity. Known as an inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell, it was designed, fabricated and independently measured at NREL. This means that the efficiency of solar cells have increased exponentially from 4% in the ’50’s to over 40% today. It also means that solar has the potential to carry the full weight of America’s energy needs, releasing the country from dependence on fossil fuels.

Other sources of solar energy include the rooftop hot-water heaters, which have been around since the ’50’s, and have been upgraded. According to a Newsweek report, “in February 2007, FAFCO Inc. introduced Hot2o, the first lightweight set of panels that homeowners can install themselves. Selling for around $1,500, the company claims the system can reduce heating bills up to 50 percent or more..” Thermal-solar is another source of energy from which excess power can be exported.
Eventually, with the development of thin solar film and plastic solar-cell strips, the energy will be available for almost everything from chargers for ipods to upscale clothing. Nathan Lewis at Cal Tech has envisioned nanotechnology on a submicron scale in a “solar paint” which could cover the entire surface of a house for which the utilization of energy would be limited only by the imagination. Steven M. Johnson, who spent nine years working in Research and Design at Honda, advocates a “narrow, smooth, and gracefully rolling…coast to coast” Intercontinental Solar-Electric Highway dedicated to light electric vehicles, .

These are just a few examples of the phenomenal growth of discoveries in the solar energy field. ………..So it goes; as these examples have shown, scientific and entrepreneurial skills as applied to solar energy have moved right along and even gained some momentum, but, considering the time span of almost 40 years from their initial inception, at a halting pace. Why has progress been restrained in this field?

One reason is that with the emergence of solar power, the practice of mining oil or coal in one place and importing it to a utility at another will no longer be feasible. Solar energy is ubiquitous, meaning, it is everywhere and doesn’t have to be transported to a central location. Actually, solar power lends itself well to decentralization, which indicates to the fossil fuel giants that, once solar energy catches on, they will lose control over their profitable venue, an obsolescence that they have not planned nor are they willing to accept……Lack of political will is at the heart of why solar energy, with all of its promise, has been stymied. Ever since former President Reagan dismantled his predecessor’s installation of solar panels on the White House roof, an action that was as mean-spirited as it was short-sighted, the renewable energy field has been left to fend for itself.

Like it or not, though, what is taking place in the energy field is a radical change in thinking or, as coined by Thomas Kuhn, a paradigm shift .This transformation does not just happen, but is caused by agents of change, and the greatest agents of change in the transition to solar energy will be the American people, themselves.
Newsweek has a nice photo slide show of the progress in solar energy at: http://photo.newsweek.com/content/photo/2008/4/history-of-solar-energy.html

Letting the Sunshine in II: America, the Solar Nation | jacksonville.com

June 26, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA | climate change, energy efficiency, global warming, renewable energy, renewables, solar