Posted on 08/09/2002 7:39:51 AM PDT by Momaw Nadon
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Solar power is one of the world's fastest-growing renewable energy sources, offering a potentially endless supply of power generation capable of meeting the electricity demands of the whole planet.
Yet two billion people in developing countries lack access to modern energy services, while solar power -- a possible solution because of its availability anywhere on the globe -- accounts for just 0.1 percent of the world's primary energy demand.
"Solar power is all capital costs. What we are struggling with is how to get the capital -- how do we get the investment -- to these people to give them solar power," BP Solar president and chief executive Harry Shimp told Reuters.
When the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable Development convenes in Johannesburg Aug. 26, it will discuss how to deliver clean, modern energy to one third of the world's population and how to encourage the use of renewable energy in the developed world.
"Photovoltaic (solar energy) is the quickest and cheapest solution for supplying electricity to remote rural households in developing nations," Philippe de Renzy-Martin, executive vice president of Shell Solar told Reuters.
"However, progress is slow and government and multilateral agencies -- who want to fix the problem -- don't want to spend the necessary money."
The summit agenda includes proposals to develop and disseminate renewable energy technologies and to increase the market share of renewable energy sources to between five and 10 percent in all countries by 2010.
"Ultimately the world has to move toward renewable power. In 20-25 years the reserves of liquid hydrocarbons are beginning to go down so we have this window of time to convert over to renewables," said BP's Shimp.
COMPETITIVE WITHIN A DECADE
According to industry groups, solar power will become a serious threat to the global dominance of fossil fuel-fired generation within the next two decades as new technologies remove its main obstacle -- cost.
The U.S.-based Solar Energy Industries Association said that solar research has brought down prices to a point where the world could expect to see photovoltaic panels competing with natural gas-fired generation within the next five to eight years.
"Certainly within 20 years, if not much sooner, solar power will be as pervasive as any other power generation technology," said the association's executive director Glenn Hamer.
Statistics from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) show that the market for photovoltaic solar energy, the most commonly applied technology that directly converts sunlight into electricity, is growing by 15 percent a year.
Low temperature solar energy -- the direct conversion of sunlight into heat used mainly in space heating and hot water production -- is increasing by about eight percent annually. The GEF said around 10 million homes now use solar hot water heaters.
Another emerging technology is solar thermal electricity, which uses solar radiation to produce high-temperature heat to generate electricity.
Amazingly, the United Nations World Energy Assessment said solar thermal power plants covering just one percent of the world's deserts could meet the entire planet's current demands.
SOLAR REDUCES POVERTY
The potential for solar power to reduce poverty by delivering energy is already being realized through the GEF -- the largest source of international financial assistance for renewable energy development in developing countries.
The GEF has committed more than $200 million for projects aimed at creating sustainable markets for solar systems in Africa, Asia and South America. It aims to provide modern energy services to one billion of the world's poor by 2015.
"These systems provide a reliable source of electricity for lighting and a radio or television, and often cost no more than using traditional fuels such as kerosene," GEF chairman and chief executive officer Mohamed El-Ashry said in a statement.
However, Solar Energy International said that in developing countries solar power potential is being hindered by a failure to pass on the true costs of grid power to customers.
"If we had to pay the environmental costs, health costs and other social costs of our electricity usage, coal-fired electricity would be much more expensive and solar would be competitive," Laurie Stone, international project developer, told Reuters.
Japan, Germany and the United States account for 71 percent of the world's solar energy market, due to generous government grants encouraging the use of solar power.
But advances in technology could soon see solar power become a way of life with photovoltaic panels concealed in at least half the developed world's buildings.
The Australian company Sustainable Technologies International has become the first business in the world to begin manufacturing the revolutionary Titania Dye Solar Cells (DSC), which can be incorporated into buildings as glass walls.
"It is nanoparticulate, so the light can hit the glass at any angle," STI executive director Sylvia Tulloch told Reuters.
"Eventually all power could come from the sun. There are other renewable energy technologies that are fine too, but solar is probably going to make the most significant contribution."
That's what they've said for the last thirty years.
I can remember reading books written in the seventies talking about how solar power would be competative in the next "two decades." Seems it hasn't made up much ground, has it?
Well, that's one way to be competitive. No wonder solar power has captured such a large market share. Oh, but wait...it hasn't.
I have no doubt that the technology will improve, but then I have the same expectation for nuclear fusion.
At least solar power has the politics behind it, whereas nuclear fission had the politics squarely against it. I still firmly believe that nuclear fission is the best available power source.
I acknowledge that the promises made about solar energy in the past have not come to pass.
However, if solar energy does become economically viable, I can't think of a better way to bankrupt the nations of OPEC, especially Saudi Arabia, who are the chief financiers of terrorism.
Not having to purchase foreign oil is potentially one of the greatest weapons we could use against our enemies in the Middle East.
Cost is only one of the challenges. There are others (like safety). But the main challenge is this: What do you do when the sun don't shine? Even if you found a cloudless, smogless place, you'll lose your primary energy source at least half the time.
According to industry groups, solar power will become a serious threat to the global dominance of fossil fuel-fired generation within the next two decades as new technologies remove its main obstacle -- cost.
That's not its main obstacle. People seem to forget there is this phenomenon associated with life on this planet, and its called night. PV panel output is zero for at least 50% of the time in most places, probably more, if you experience that other phenomenon associated with life on Earth, weather.
Japan, Germany and the United States account for 71 percent of the world's solar energy market, due to generous government grants encouraging the use of solar power.
Funny how no one seems to object to these government-supplied subsidies. The wackos raise holy hell about non-existent "subsidies" to the nuclear industry yet are silent or supportive of these same subsidies (which are real) to "renewable" energy sources. An interesting and hypocritical double standard that the press seems unwilling to give much coverage to.
The best use for solar right now is passive solar, but that has issues, too. It poses some safety risks, and is not always practical for all construction. But it does have some uses that put it far ahead in terms of practicality and economics than any kind of active or PV solar.
I think more realistically that solar power will be used to generate hydrogen (solar farms in sunny areas can be used side-by-side with agriculture) and the hydrogen will be used in fuel cell vehicles. Prototype systems like this already exist.
Except for the maintenance costs, which can be unpredictable. My neighbor trashed his system because he couldn't keep it working for more than a few weeks at a time.
Agreed, solar energy may not become economically viable for decades.
However, my interest in posting the article was to generate a discussion of how we can turn to alternative sources of energy and therefore become less dependent on imports of oil from our enemies.
I also support nuclear power, wind power, hydroelectric power, and anything else that will allow us to go tell the Saudis and other terrorist supporters where they can shove their oil.
And Muhammad Ali is going to challenge Lennox Lewis.
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