Do you think we could power a lot of things off solar energy? Why is this not mainstream by now?

Question

I know we could or already have the capability of powering electricity with solar power. The sun has enough power to get a lot done in just one day, forgot the stat... Anyway, do you think this is some kind of government prevention of some kind? Maybe the amount of money we make off of electricity, gas, etc.

Answer 1

I feel you are closer to the truth than we realise. Same with the cost of petrol and cheaper/cleaner alternatives.

Answer 2

Yes I do, and so do a lot of other people, including Southern California Electric.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/...

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/09/calif...

Answer 3

You should ask the multi billion dollar petro-chemical companies that questions. They're the one's holding the patients for many viable alternative energy sources. Sure they're looking after their best interests ,Not ours...

Answer 4

Solar panels are expensive to make, and not pretty to look at and take up a lot of space (if we're talking about more than just a single house). The places with constant amounts of sun are either really crowded with people with limited places to put solar panels (let alone expensive to rent/buy land for them in the first place), or aren't close enough to people to be able to transport the energy and gain enough money back from them.

Answer 5

Back in the late 60's our government talked about these kinds of different energy , But I do believe that in that time our state and Senate were thinking about there self's and we the American public started getting screwed. and now there is almost no way out. I make about 70K a year and my tax's keep going up ( food, fuel,housing, school,kids)... I don't think ether one of these people McCain or Obama are really going to help me THE AVERAGE AMERICAN MAN

       Thank you

Answer 6

The cost of solar energy panels plus installation is prohibitive in most applications.

With solar power, you only get power from the sun for an average of 12 hours a day.  You need a source for the rest of the day.

In some areas, like mine, solar is impractical.  We average about 80 sunny days a year.  

In winter, solar panels get covered with snow and become useless.

Some people, like me, live in condos.  We would not get approval to install solar panels without intervention from the federal government.  That's what it took to allow dish antennas to be used.

Answer 7

The main reason it is not widespread yet is because of the cost of manufacturing large scale systems. Super-pure silicon and other components are just starting to be manufactured at a reasonable price.

Answer 8

Our current administration didn't see the benefit, so we are 8 years behind. In CA we are well on our way with the largest solar farm currently under construction and great rebates to help offset the cost for homes and businesses.

Solar is only one part of the equation. Wind, geothermal and other technologies are being researched and implemented.

If you want to do more, check with your local utility and see if they offer "Green Energy". Some commit to buying renewable energy, others use the money to invest in renewable energy. It usually costs a little more each month, but we all need to do our part.

Answer 9

The benefit of solar over any other alternative power source is that it produces power when people need it most. Typically, peak demand is between 12-6, when solar panels perform best. Wind mostly occurs at night, so wind turbines can help but aren't filling as great a need. To date, no one has come up with a way to store the excess energy these systems produce. That means that we can't rely solely on alternative power yet because it's dependent on conditions we can't control.

Solar has great potential. Supposedly, a 90 square mile array of solar panels could power the whole country. Solar is being used by many utilities in California already. They're contracting with companies to build big fields of solar that feed energy into the electric grid. Those can achieve economies of scale but take 6-8 years to build. Companies are just lining up financing now and are waiting to start until Congress extends the federal income tax credit for alternative energy past 2008 (it's caught up in partisan politics).

The reason it's not catching on is the expense. Countries where it is the norm (Germany, Spain) still heavily subsidize the technology because scientists are still trying to better the  efficiency, which would lower the cost. Here's why: The best silicon solar panels out there can only convert 20 percent of the sunlight into energy, and silicon is expensive because of a worldwide shortage. A number of silicon processing plants are supposed to open in 2009, so that should lower the price. Solar panel manufacturers are incrementally raising efficiency rates (which would reduce the amount of silicon needed), but a residential system will rarely produce enough power to totally power a home because of space limitations on the roof. As efficiency improves, this equation will better. The installation process is also quite expensive because almost every roof is a bit different, but there are design engineers working on that so there's more of a standard.

The best solar panels made of other materials (referred to as thin-film) can convert 10 percent of the sunlight that hits them into energy, so while the cost can be lower you'd need the panels to cover a larger area. That's why it's more widely used in the large solar arrays for utility companies than on people's houses.

So while many people, including the Congressional Republicans, are opposed to extending tax benefits to the solar industry past 2008, the oil and gas industries have many subsidies and had many many subsidies as they were  just starting too.

Answer 10

The reason that ground based solar power and wind power aren't worth bothering with if you want to stop global warming is because they need large scale energy storage technology we just don't have to be able to actually take over from fossil fuels.  That's the main reason and it is a technical reason, not a political one (some people might consider the undesirability of rolling blackouts a political factor that hurts solar and wind).

If you don't have large scale energy storage then to be able to rely on solar and wind you have to provide some form of backup power which is usually fossil fuel which means that all you do if you use wind and solar is to reduce the use of fossil fuels, not eliminate the use of them which is what we need to do.

Until we solve the problem of large scale energy storage (and there are no guarantees as to when or even if we'll solve it so we can't depend on doing so) wind and solar are just distractions from nuclear power which can completely replace fossil fuels for electricity production.

Space solar power doesn't have the reliability problems but it does have the problem of us lacking the infrastructure to actually do it, we might be able to develop it given a few decades but that's by no means guaranteed, neither are the favourable economic estimates for space solar built from space materials.

Pretty much the only country that has carbon neutral electricity is France which uses mostly nuclear power while Germany which is building wind and solar is also building a lot of new coal because wind and solar aren't up to the job of supplying the power they need (of course if they weren't shutting down nuclear power plants they wouldn't need those extra coal power plants).

Solar also despite what some people may think not provide power when people need it the most (i.e. winter).  In per capita energy usage the top 5 is made up for four Scandinavian countries and Canada which are not exactly places where solar works best.

Answer 11

Wind power...not solar power...is the future. Solar panels get dirty and ineffecient with age, are of use only when the sun is shining (wind blows all the time) and look basically like c**p.

France is full of wind turbines and many countries are following their example now...I know you Americans would rather eat c**p than admit the French have a point about wind power. So good luck with your old-fashioned solar panels.

French wind power:

http://images.inmagine.com/img/photoalto...