Solar Power:(Light) Wave of the Future?

    Recently I've been visiting prospective graduate schools. I've been to the University of Delaware, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These trips have been a lot of fun really and meeting professors is always an interesting experience. So my plan is to research something related to renewable energy sources. Solar power is my first interest. Wind power looks to have a really bright future and is a few steps ahead of where solar is today. In my opinion wind power technology is fairly straightforward and wouldn't really interest me academically and solar power today is... lets say imperfect and that's what draws me to it. It's so expensive and inefficient but consider the potential advantages:

a) The sun will be burning for ~4 billion more years so the source is not going anywhere soon
b) I think people are more willing to install solar modules than a wind generator on their property. Solar panels are more customizable and less of an eye sore (check out these cool shingles or roofs)
c) One interesting study showed that if we employed 8% efficient solar panels on the 6 major deserts we could provide the WORLD its energy needs. However, the study admits there are major technical and political obstacles standing in the way so don't take this too literally.
d) The places in most desperate need of electricity are right where the sun's rays are strongest
e) Nano-science is pushing the boundaries of solid-state electronics and thin films which would directly affect solar cells.
f) Being responsible for our own power generation would clearly make us more aware of our energy consumption (The Google Power Meter alone reduces power consumption). That link and this somewhat cheezy movie shows, just having knowledge gives people the power to change. We've become so reliant on electric companies that its hard to consider our alternatives.
g) Clearly a corollary to part f would be relieving our dependency on electrical companies. I don't foresee nor want the electric companies to become obsolete but I see them as a safety blanket. They will be there when the sun isn't shining. The candle industry had to step aside when Edison started providing DC current to New York. So too the electric companies either need to step aside or aid in the development of alternate energy sources.

Instead of sustaining an illusion of endless energy supply it is time for society to be more responsible and aware. Natural gas and oil reserves are finite, they WILL run out. A wonderful article in Scientific American (draft of the article here) is written by Leonardo Maugeri-an Executive VP of an Italian oil company. Basically he is disagreeing with alarmists who argue that the peak of oil recovery has been realized; once we think we've exhausted an oil reserve we find a new way to extract more oil or we find a new reserve all together. He is right-many studies conducted on this topic have been proven wrong. So how long does he think our reserves will last? According to him we'll safely glide into the next century, after that we will be running on E...100 years of oil left, according to an oil company! This is not some nagging environmentalist urging the use of alternate energy sources (i.e. me). 100 years...wow. At that point we will have no choice but to turn to alternates. Nuclear energy will probably be the understudy to oil in this theatrical performance of "How to Drain the Earth of its Natural Resources as Fast as Possible" written by: The Human Race. But hopefully solar power and wind energy will be viable sources as well. All this tells me one thing: get a head start on solar so that we can conserve some oil, ergo lower our greenhouse gas emissions.

But how do we encourage people to limit their use of natural gas and oil? A good way to motivate people is to offer direct and immediate consequences to their actions. See if you can follow me: having personal power generators (such as solar modules) would be like having an energy checkbook; you would have to budget the amount of energy used and if you saw that maybe you were overusing in the beginning of the month then you would amp it down to stay within your limits (haha amp it down-a little electrical humor there). I can't count how many times I've been guilty of leaving my bedroom light on or leaving a window open or leaving that butt warmer on for too long, but let me tell you I would be willing and able to limit my energy consumption if I knew I would be running out soon.

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