Solar research – a review and recommendations for the most important supplier of energy for the earth with solar systems

ABSTRACT

Many energy-industry observers consider solar energy a theoretically elegant but unrealistic solution to the imminent gap between global energy supply and demand. Everyone agrees that clean, limitless, free energy from the sky sounds ideal, but more practical considerations such as relative cost and the sheer scale of the current energy infrastructure seem to doom solar energy to follower status for years to come. Other sources of energy, both conventional and renewable (including wind, geothermal and biomass), appear to be cheaper, easier to deploy and better funded and currently enjoy popular support in the media and renewable-energy advocacy circles. In addition, memories of false starts and unfulfilled promises during the twentieth century have tempered general optimism about solar energy’s potential. This credibility gap exists not only among members of the conventional energy-industry fuel providers, electric utilities and all other interested parties – but also among a larger group of environmentalists and solar-energy system installers. The memory of this disappointment lingers, promoting scepticism solar could be a viable economic energy solution without substantial government subsidies. In this manuscript describes solar energy and its future.

KEYWORDS:

• Energy
• solar energy
• renewable energy
• government subsidies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).