We've all heard about the Solyndra fiasco, but solar panels seem to be the next big thing in renewable resources. We even spent a whole hour hearing about the wonderful new solar panels at Aragon.
Despite the obviously clean energy behind them, solar panels are still fairly cumbersome to use and install. They require lots of space, access to sunlight for a good period of time and expensive metals such as gallium arsenide. As a private source of energy for a large company with its own buildings, solar panels seem to be the way to go, but with the large space requirement, could they really be efficiently used as a main power source for a city?
Here's another website claiming that the cost of solar panels will decrease, but until they do, the demand curve dictates that only a few people will have access to them.
One last thought, people are excited because solar panels have a 14% efficiency. Is that really all that great? According to the World Coal Organization, the average efficiency is twice that amount where the most efficient plants are a little over three times as efficient. With our growing population, is it really necessary to use solar power for public use versus coal or some other renewable resource?
