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Tag Archives: solar
Combining Current Tech Could Make Solar Cheaper than Coal
By the end of the decade, manufacturers in the United States could make solar panels that are less than half as expensive as the ones they make now. That would be cheap enough for solar power to compete with electricity … Continue reading
Innovation as the Infinite Resource: My Talk at Chicago Ideas Week
Innovation as the Infinite Resource: Ramez Naam at Chicago Ideas Week
Carbon Nanotubes Could Replace Rare Earth Indium in Solar Cells
A frequently voiced concern about solar energy is the dependence of solar cells on rare earth elements such as indium. While rare earth elements are actually far more plentiful than their name suggests, it’s also encouraging to see studies showing … Continue reading
My WFS2011 Talk: The Infinite Resource: Growing Prosperity While Reducing Impact on the Earth
I gave at talk this morning at the World Future Society 2011 Conference in Vancouver. The talk was entitled The Infinite Resource: Growing Prosperity While Reducing Impact on the Earth, and it looks at what the ultimate limits of growth … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged climate change, energy, environment, future trends, politics, science, solar
2 Comments
Solar Cheaper than Coal in 3-5 Years? GE and First Solar Think So
The news is carrying two stories in the last two weeks pitching solar as potentially cheaper than current electrical rates in the next 3-5 years. First, in an interview with Bloomberg, GE’s global research director Mark M. Little said that … Continue reading
Is Moore’s Law really a fair comparison for Solar?
A reader at Scientific American raises some healthy skepticism about whether or not the exponential trend in solar watts / dollar can continue. This is a fine thing to be skeptical about. As I mentioned in the original post, we … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged economics, energy, environment, future trends, science, solar
2 Comments
The Exponential Gains in Solar Power per Dollar
My post on the Moore’s Law-like exponential gains in solar power per dollar went up at Scientific American yesterday. Reprinting here with permission. The sun strikes every square meter of our planet with more than 1,360 watts of power. Half … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged economics, energy, environment, future trends, science, solar
16 Comments
Solar Prices Drop Exponentially for 30 Years
>FuturePundit blogs about projections for $2 a watt photovoltaics by 2010, which would be a reduction in cost of about half from today’s prices. The interesting thing in this post for me is a link to an Earth Policy Institute … Continue reading
A Solar Grand Plan
>The cover story of this month’s Scientific American is a proposal to build out solar power in the US to supply 70% of the country’s electrical needs by 2050. It looks like a pretty doable plan, actually, requiring no technological … Continue reading