Is solar power a pipe dream?

Question

Is solar power a pipe dream?

Answer 1

Not at all.. but right now it is expensive, because the technology is still in its infancy.  There is a company based in FL that is growing a strain of algae in direct sunlight that produces an oil that can be used as a feedstock for biodiesel.  That is indirect solar power.

Solar water heaters are proven & cheap technology that we can all use now.  Saving the gas or electricity from being used to heat domestic hot water reserves that energy to be used elsewhere.

Anywhere you can save, any way you can reasonably do it, will help.

Answer 2

The day we capture & conquer "Solor Powers"........is the day

humanities requirements will be achieved.

Answer 3

Solar power is not a pipe dream at my house.  I have a 6 kW system that supplies all my electricity for heating, lighting and cooling.  Water heating is by gas.  I do live alone, and near San Francisco.  Temperatures do not get much below freezing, but we do get hot summer days.  My average generation and usage is about 20 kWh per day.  With net metering, I get behind during the winter, but catch up in summer.

Answer 4

Short term, yes it is a pipe dream.

Except that solar grows everything from food to wood. And, in a sense, whatever coal and oil and gas came from dinosaurs and ferns is also stored solar power. And wind, wave, and hydro power also ultimately come from solar energy.

As bio-technology improves, we will eventually be able to grow oils more cheaply than we can produce it from the ground.

As other solar technolgies improve (solar heating, etc), we will adopt them more widely. I believe conservation, such as better insulation and more efficient autos are also critical.

Be patient, alternative energies will be coming, by market forces, due to the cost of oil and gas. Even when they go back down, they are not likely to go as low as the used to.