Scientist Joe Jordan and Solar expert Carl Reuter on the Future of Solar Energy, Now..
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 Listen Now Dr. Future Show 8.02.11
Much has been promised from the world of solar energy, the potential is unbelievable. There is more power in the solar energy hitting the planet every day, for example, than all our reserves of coal and oil. But what has actually been delivered so far, and what can we expect in the near future, given the rapid advance of technology and our will to use it?
Joe Jordan, founder of Sky-Power, has worked at NASA Ames for 20+ years and is very bullish on solar. He is an affiliate of ASES (American Solar Energy Society), NCSEA (Northern California Solar Energy Association), and CARET (Consortium for Advancing Renewable Energy Technologies).
Carl Reuter has a long history in solar, having installed many a backwoods system, long before the recent advent of Grid-tie solar that has brought many young companies to the market. He has been in the solar trenches locally and can give us a very pragmatic perspective of what is real now with solar.
Reader Comments (2)
Interesting show. I believe we are too single solution orientated. The fact that we focus on batteries and not life style change shows how one dimensional our thinking is about energy use. If people would think more collectively and less individually then there would be more power at less cost.
The problem is that we are conditioned by our past of abundant cheap energy and frivolous use patterns. This makes it very hard to view energy in a reasonable way. We expect our selfish energy desires to be gratified. We do this with no consideration for the cost to the environment or the world.
This mindset is the reason that we have so many wars in the middle east. Where oil, our traditional cheap source of energy, is plentiful. The countries in this region suffer from political strife and dictatorships that are supported by our government to maintain the low cost of oil, but this is going to come to an end, and so most our selfish energy use mindset.
The answer lies in my opinion in collective multifaceted solutions that combine low and hi-technologies to form local cogeneration of power, heat and hydrogen for storage of power. Solar technology is great to create large surpluses of hydrogen. Hydrogen is a better way to store the wealth of the suns energy because it isn't injurious to the environment.
Just some thoughts Dr Future