just stolen this quote from the other thread (
2 Japanese nuclear reactors may be in meltdown)
as it seemed pertinent here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigS
the biggest being that it can't deliver anywhere near the power/performance levels required to meet current day demands !
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so many people seem overly negative about solar power, whether solar panel or concentrating solar power programs, and I just wonder where their info comes from.
however, it seems that even the department of energy in the US thinks that solar has a big future as a major contributor to the US' power, if not the major source of its power.
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/
i have been reading quite a bit from there, both the website itself and papers it references or internal papers available to the public. They go into detail on everything from the costs (not just of the panels, etc. but of the attendant components), maintenance costs, grants (US-based, obviously), power output, etc.
mostly, it seems a bright future (excuse the pun) in the US and it seems sad that Australia, with its obvious benefits, are seemingly behind the times.
If we can get a man on the moon, perform brain surgery and cure disease then it seems to me that the implementation of solar power in large-scale ways seems trivial.