Solar News
“Solar Energy” Airs on PBS • New E-Vehicles
PBS will be airing a NOVA production, Solar Energy: Saved by the Sun this Oct. 23 at 8pm. The program tells how people—“ordinary citizens and businesses are bypassing the federal government to lead the way in exploring a clean, renewable source of power: the sun.” It tells why and how, exploring how much of a difference solar power can make. “Can solar technologies, with their high cost and logistical challenges, truly play a bigger role in powering the future of humanity? The grand hopes, latest innovations, roiling controversies, and practical realities of solar power all come to the fore in this program,” they state.
In the 1970s, at the height of an earlier energy crisis, solar power looked like the trend of the future—President Jimmy Carter even installed solar panels on the White House. But in the ensuing decades, as the price of gas and oil dropped, solar power lost favor and failed to make a significant contribution to the nation's power grid. Now, with rising energy needs and wars in the Middle East pushing energy prices higher, the world has been forced to take another look. Could it be time to take solar energy seriously again?
“Saved By the Sun” probes how innovative technologies, new business models, increasing financial incentives, and a growing grassroots commitment to solving the climate crisis are driving a renaissance in solar energy around the world. Across the U.S., solar panels are capping more and more roofs. In Germany, a “great wall” of solar panels lines the autobahn, feeding the Munich power grid. At Cal Tech, nanotechnology is spurring new solar inventions. Worldwide, solar energy is expected to be a $50 billion industry within a decade.
The timing of this solar boom is vital. The aging U.S. power grid is vulnerable to summertime blackouts, and fossil fuel sources are contributing to the looming threat of severe climate change. But is the groundswell of hope surrounding solar power warranted? This program presents several perspectives, ranging from a middle-class family that found peace of mind and cost savings by installing solar panels; to a leading energy correspondent who questions the economic sustainability of solar energy; and finally to entrepreneurs who believe the sun is our last, best hope for powering the future.
While a greater number of solar-powered houses can help reduce carbon-dioxide emissions in a modest way, some believe a bigger investment in a national solar infrastructure is needed. NOVA takes audiences on a rare journey inside the world's largest solar thermal plant: Kramer Junction in the Mojave Desert, which powers some 150,000 Los Angeles-area homes. Kramer generates electricity via vast rows of parabolic-shaped mirrors, which in turn heat vats of water to the boiling point, so the resulting steam can drive huge turbines.
Other countries are pursuing solar power with far more gusto than the U.S. NOVA travels to Germany, which despite not being known for sunny weather, has become a solar mecca. By offering cash incentives, the government has encouraged many citizens, from city dwellers to a pig farmer, to put up solar panels. Astonishingly, Germany is now on track to produce 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. By contrast, the U.S. gets only 1 percent of its energy from solar and wind power.
The program originally aired in April 2007. See www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/solar/catch.html
The Return of E-Cars
General Motors, one of the villains in the film Who Killed the Electric Car?, is back in the E-car business. They are working on an E-car named Volt and think it will be a better alternative to what is out there now, i.e., Toyota's Prius.
They consider it a while new approach and revolutionary. Instead of switching back and forth between being gas run and battery run, the way hybrids operate, the Volt would be an electric vehicle.
The battery would give the car a range of 40 miles and then once the battery runs down to a certain level a small internal-combustion, four-cylinder engine will kick in. Instead of powering the car, that engine would charge the battery. They describe it as being like a small generator that recharges the lithium ion battery.
Their research, which they are very confident about, shows that 82 percent of people's daily trips in the US are 40 miles or less. So many people will never use a drop of fuel. If the engine used renewable or non-fossil fuels, the mileage would then be infinite. If someone went on a 60-mile trip, so that the last 20 miles of the trip would require the help of the non-solar powered engine, the mileage would be about 150 miles per gallon.
They expect prototypes to be ready in the Spring of 2008, with cars available to the public in 2010. The target price is below $30,000.
GM has a few PR challenges after the recall of the EV-1's, so they will definitely be questioned through this process, but for now the Volt appears very promising. Solar powered cars are the cleanest option we have that can be produced in the near future.
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