Energy Revolution 2.0

It is time for people to rethink transportation and alternative energy and It's time we started thinking big. On looking into photovoltaic technology (in particular research being done at MIT, UC Berkeley and the University of Delaware) it seems utilizing the best current technology we can convert sunlight to electricity at a maximum of 41% efficiency. Sunlight provides approx. 1000 watts/square meter at the surface of the earth. That's quite a few light bulbs per square meter.

Emerging thin film technology is converting about 10% of the energy from sunlight to electricity but it also allows for the integration of photovoltaic technology directly into the building materials themselves. By most accounts, photovoltaic technology is fast approaching cost parity with fossil fuels. Current research focused on storage and future updates to transmission capability offer the potential for revolutionary changes to our energy infrastructure. Integration with mass transit such as high speed rail could be game changing developments for the United States and the world.

Ask yourself, why hasn't photovoltaic technology been more fully explored? The technology has been around since we were kids. One of the answers may be that neither wind nor sunlight can be owned, and therefore they cant be sold. While industry can sell us the equipment to utilize the energy inherent in wind and sunlight, it will be difficult to sell us the energy itself on a per watt basis. This hasn't stopped companies and utilities from trying. In fact, this is one of the ways photovoltaic technology seems to be developing in the United States. Companies lease out the expensive equipment and sell the energy back to us on a per watt basis. In Australia by contrast, people buy the equipment without paying per watt for the power generated.

One day soon, probably in our lifetimes, people will begin to think about energy in the same way we used to think about our air; plentiful, abundant and clean. When we rethink energy everything will change.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Energy Revolution 2.0
• solar
• wind
• solar energy
• wind energy
• train
• rail
• high speed rail
• maglev
• mag/lev
• revolution
• Norman Foster
• Jeff Skoll
• Buckminster Fuller
• Noam Chomsky
• peak oil
• electricity
• trains
• bail out
• bank bail out
• bad bank
• 350
• climate change
• carbon
• silicon

[SuperAlbator84]

its time for the world to go to the futur

[be4unvme]

or just look into the tesla tower.

[MrMrfazle]

wait intell we reach the 4th dimension we will find the next step in space travel

[wheresdabud1]

this is imposible,very nice mirage ,and very needet :)

[pacificcresttrans]

Yes the energy revolution is here and the biggest change will come from the wind energy sector. With wind energy gaining popularity in places like Texas, it is no wonder then that millions of homes will have access to electricity through the power of the wind. Transformer company, Pacific Crest Transformers offers custom built energy-efficient transformers for wind energy farms.

[gukonni]

We could power a huge portion of our grid with solar thermal power, but it would require 100's of billions to build it and fund the research. It IS possible.

One thing most people forget about many of these alternatives is that they decentralize the grid. You get he power where you want it... you don't transmit it over thousands of miles. This would help to make our grid more secure. It would also reduce the amount of land area we require since we could build on land that's already used.

[TravvyG]

Australia is all coal we need to replace coal with thermal since PM Kevin Rudd has decided no nuclear power plants will be built in Australia and we have uranium here too alwell and other good sources for here are Solar, Hydro, Wind and wave

[bottler0cket]

Maglev transportation is indeed the future but wind and solar won't be the predominant source of power, 4th generation pebble-bed nuclear reactors will supply the electricity to power this network. Also look into the proposed Berring-Straight highspeed-rail and maglev bridge project. Imagine going from San Francisco to Shanghai in 8 hours !