Solar Energy Adoption May Outpace Other Renewable Energies

Some experts have been predicting  that solar power may account for as much as 69% of electricity production by the year 2050 in the United States. Solar could account for 35% of overall worldwide energy use by the same time period.

The individuals who predicted this scenario, Ken Zweibel, James Mason, and Vasilis Fthenakis, in January’s Scientific American feel the bulk of the United States solare energy could be harvested using a large area of photovoltaic cells located in the American  Southwest.

Photovoltaic cells are devices that convert the light energy of the sun into usable electricity. When a few photovoltaic cells or solar cells are put together they form a photovoltaic module. In turn, when a few photovoltaic modules are put together they form a photovoltaic array.

The energy production process will work like so: during the day excess production of solar energy would be stored as compressed air. During a time period with no sunlight the compressed air would be released and run through turbines that would then generate electricity.

The trio state that about $420 billion in government subsidies would be needed to get the project going. The task would take about 9 years to complete running from 2011 to 2020 after which subsidies would no longer be required since solar energy should become competitive by this point.

Up to 16,000 square miles of photovoltaic arrays would need to be built as well as new infrastructure to handle the transmission of direct-current power. The building of solar concentrator power plants to increase the efficiency of energy production would also be needed.

On an operational basis, solar energy costs roughly the same to produce energy as other conventional methods. However, the high initial cost of photovoltaic cells is a serious issue preventing greater adoption.  Further economies of scale and manufacturing efficiencies are still needed to put solar on a level economic footing with fossil fuel based energy production methods at today’s prices.

Politically, however, solar energy may be the only form of energy that pleases everyone due to its safety, cleanliness and unobtrusiveness. It does not impact the food supply like ethanol does, does not create the eyesore windmills do and does not have the environmental impacts of hydro power. Solar may actually be the cure-all to our energy problems.

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