Solar power is the technology of the future.
That is a strong statement to make considering how low on the ladder solar power seems to be for most people involved in the great energy debate.
The reason solar power is the technology of the future is because it is the one true technology that does not deplete any natural resource on earth.
It does not create more pollution like ethanol.
It does not empower oil rich countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Venezuela. It is a 100 percent naturally renewing source of energy just waiting to be harvested.
As Obama and countless other officials have always said, we need to get off our “addiction” to foreign oil.
Our relationship with countries like Iran that produce oil compromises our international standing with human rights issues, compromises our national economy, and compromises our national security.
So getting rid of oil as our main energy source is an obvious goal of the federal government.
Inexplicably, however, they have chosen not to invest heavily in the solar panel industry, probably because of shortsighted desires to get results quickly.
If invested in properly, however, solar panels in the long term could solve our entire energy situation.
The reason that solar power stands above the rest even in the field of renewable energy; water, wind, and solar, is because of its similarity to computer chips, which are also made with the material silicon.
SunPower Inc. is the largest producer of solar panels in America. Their silicon-based panels are the most efficient and effective means of harvesting the natural energy given off by the sun.
The CEO of SunPower, Tom Werner, according to the LA Times, believes that Moore’s law could be in effect for solar energy.
Moore’s law is the name for the historical trend that every two years, the amount of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit board doubles.
What this means for consumers and the layman is that as time goes on, the speed and power of processors and the memory capacity of computers has increased exponentially every few years.
This is the reason that laptops that cost $2,000 now will cost $1,000 and be twice as powerful three years from now.
The rate at which the computer hardware industry pushes forward technologically is profound.
If these exponential leaps in technology can be replicated for solar panels, which again, are made out of silicon, the same material as computer chips, the possibilities are endless.
Solar energy from massive solar panels is used to power the entire international space station.
If it can work in space, it can work on Earth, where there is much more open ground for thousands upon thousands of square miles to be used as solar energy farmland.
It is truly a shame that companies, homeowners, and the U.S. government does not use solar energy more effectively.
The only way that Moore’s law will go into effect is if the solar panel industry grows tremendously, and that will only happen if the U.S. government gets behind it, subsidizes it and gives tax incentives to those that install solar panels on the roofs of their factories and on their homes.
This is something that is happening in California, the most progressive state in the nation for alternative energy sources, but it needs to start happening nationwide if we really want to ensure a future where we don’t run out of inexpensive energy.
