One of my pet peeves about solar research is location. Seems solar researchers like the warm climates of the west coast. As a result, they don't have to roll up their sleeves, in fact their sleeves if they have them are too short to roll up. Yes, they bask in the abundant sun source and conduct their research. Oh we improved our sun utilization from 10% to 10.00937%, this is signif.....!!
The result here in Ohio is that all the pictures encouraging solar cell use are California dreaming. We here in Ohio are not completely sold on solar yet. Good old Ohio, your weather so changable and if you live on the northcoast, you count sunny moments instead of sunny days. I would say design and build solar right here. If you can squeeze high quality electricity from solar cells "here in Ohio" then when you put them under California skys, you'll need sunglasses.
Wouldn't that be a kicker applying a sun screen to your solar array.
I guess the real problem is finding materals that can be both mass produced and sustainable and green at the same time while maintaining the ability to convert sunlight to useful electricity. Today it takes so many square feet of panels, tomorrow it will take half as much, but if we don't find the right materials, we won't see many solar collectors on buildings, ever.
Here in Ohio we perhaps need a hybrid solution. A panel that does solar waterheat and solar electricity. I would also add in the thermo to electricity conversion too. I am just saying that more progress might be visible in a harsher or changable environment. Design for the worst. Personally I think we have a waste problem. We live in energy wasting houses, filled with energy wasting appliances, have energy wasting habits and waste too much energy working hard to pay for energy powered conveniences, therefore wasting time and money. We are forced to not use less energy, a pre-existing condition.
When we got wind, the Ohio way is to legislate and rezone and then put the biggest, baddest, news worthy, other community envy machine you can build in a place no one can see or appreciate. The huge pinwheel in the sky that will make the earth look like the Goodyear Blimp from the International Space Station. Meanwhile as I drive down route 90 from Cleveland to Port Clinton there are endless naked lamp poles. We like to argue over the research to get our bang for the buck. If you can't put a big pinwheel in my neighborhood, what about smaller vertical turbines. Would they work here? Did you say no on paper or did you try this with a working installation? Sometimes you have to put the paper down and just install it. If it don't work so well there, move it. For an average citizen like me to feel like progress is coming soon to a neighborhood near me, hardware is king. Talk is cheap and lots of talking people are draining the bucks that could be put into hardware. Once the hardware hits the ground, the conversation changes to how we can do this better, now that we done this.
That's my beef, we have a pre-existing condition that prevents us from moving to a new solution. We are expecting to use green energy to replace the capacity, potential and the demand on the present technology. It is hard for us to reconsider our waste and our consumption. Then for us it is easier to green up business islands and industry mountains than the vast sea of homes.
I think for a lot of help, we can look to NASA, after all they have the most extreme autonomous camper, in the harshest environment of space. It's been there for years now. They have supplies delivered, plumbers, electricians and satellite TV folks have visited. All NASA needs is a spin-off to manufacturing to retail store path. I'd take a space blanket and thermowrap insulation, thermo paint, solar array and DC power system, water recycling system, etc, etc. If you decommission the specs the cost should be quite reasonable and with the cost spread over the need of millions of homes you wouldn't need to have it made in China to cut a profit.