Solar Power
Eric Fry of the Rude Awakening has penned an interesting article about the solar revolution and the noose that looms for the traditional energy providers. Justice Litle goes into more detail on the workings of solar energy..
"In terms of imagining a solar future, there are two competing visions that come to mind. The first is thousands of solar-powered suburban homes, all of them with shiny panels on the roof or in the yard. The second vision is that of a vast, empty desert in which solar flowers bloom, covering thousands of acres as far as the eye can see.
The difference between the two visions comes down to one important question: Will the electricity solutions of tomorrow be decentralized... or centralized? Will the average home be self-sufficient and wholly off the grid, using off-the-shelf technologies to generate power... or will utility companies still provide power to households through a power grid, leveraging alternative technologies at gargantuan scale to do so?" The Solar Revolution
I wonder which option a traditional energy company would choose? A centralized energy source that they can profit from or a decentralized system where people hold their create power?
"In terms of imagining a solar future, there are two competing visions that come to mind. The first is thousands of solar-powered suburban homes, all of them with shiny panels on the roof or in the yard. The second vision is that of a vast, empty desert in which solar flowers bloom, covering thousands of acres as far as the eye can see.
The difference between the two visions comes down to one important question: Will the electricity solutions of tomorrow be decentralized... or centralized? Will the average home be self-sufficient and wholly off the grid, using off-the-shelf technologies to generate power... or will utility companies still provide power to households through a power grid, leveraging alternative technologies at gargantuan scale to do so?" The Solar Revolution
I wonder which option a traditional energy company would choose? A centralized energy source that they can profit from or a decentralized system where people hold their create power?
Labels: Alternative Energy, Solar Power
1 Comments:
The answer, as always, will be both. But I think that Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) will have the upper hand, because batteries for solar self-sufficiency are extremely expensive. Thermal storage for CSP, on the other hand is quite inespensive on a relative basis, so central CSP with thermal storage will likely form the basis for peaking power to complement intermittent distributed PV and wind, and biomass can provide tranportation fuel when our plug in hybrids go beyond the range of their batteries.
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