Competing With Fossil Fuels
By SolarPromoter - 13.12.2008
The solar power industry received a nice “bump” a few months ago when Utah scientists and solar power guru’s got together and announced that they believed they could successfully (cost effectively) compete with fossil fuels in regards to electricity generation. There project, taking place in the Great Basin Desert in California, utilizes extremely thin solar film lenses to collect energy then convert it into super-heated steam. The super heated steam would in turn be used to propel a turbine creating enough energy (in theory) to power the entire region (if of course enough of the lenses were set up and functioning at capacity).
The science behind it all isn’t new. Thin solar film was coined several years ago in Europe and has led to many other solar gadgets and applications, but hasn’t been implemented on any ambitious/large-scale projects that I am aware of. Honestly, I don’t think they have used this technology on anything larger than a pair of Nikon binoculars. I suppose only time will tell if this project will function at capacity and yield the results that so many i the community are hoping for. I for one, am excited to see that there are so many different people working together to find a solution to one of our times greatest crisis.
