Solar Industry: No Breakthroughs Needed
The solar industry says incremental advances have made transformational technologies unnecessary. Full Story »
Posted by Kaizar Campwala - via AllTop (Haiti)Review
The story is pretty well known, except in political circles. This short article is to the point, and largely non-technical. It is a good primer for looking at the subject.
cost reductions have made solar power cheaper than the natural-gas-powered plants used to produce extra electricity to meet demand on hot summer days. With subsidies, which Zweibel argues are justified because of the “externalities” of other power sources, such as the cost from pollution, solar can be competitive with conventional electricity even outside peak demand times, at least in California. And projected cost decreases will make solar competitive with current electricity prices in more areas, even without subsidies.
Contrast this to carbon sequestration which has unknown costs, risks, and is not ready now.