PV Gap

Tammy Said:

how long will it take solar energy to work on earth?

We Answered:

Solar power works-it is used in many places. The question is one of economics, which underlies nearly every human activity, but is one of the least studied fields. It is expensive, and energy-intensive, to make solar-powered electrical panels-which in any case only work well inbright sunlight. Solar power is most useful for heating water in individual houses, but again, it isnt economically competitive with coal, oil, and natural gas. In order for solar power to be widely used, a number of things would have to happen. 1) development of much better electrical storage (batteries, heat sinks, capacitors, etc) 2) either solar power generators would have to get much more efficient or coal, gas, and oil much much more expensive or 3) to concern with greenhouse gases and pollution rise to such a level that people would be willing to pay 5-10 times more for electrical power.

Gary Said:

How many ways can I make electricity?

We Answered:

You personally?

by a battery (there are dozens of different kinds)
by a solar panel
by a wind turbine
by a hand crank turning a generator

Other ways that are probably out of your ability
steam turbine driven by coal, or oil or wood or nuclear reactor
water turbine driven by water from a dam
geothermal
wave generator
tidal generator
ocean thermal generator

Brian Said:

Conclusion to this paragraph.... (about solar energy)?

We Answered:

I would conclude that while the use of solar energy right now is minimal and does not make enough difference to justify the costs, in the future it probably has the greatest amount of potential because it does not have to be manually produced, extracted or burned. And it can also be used in outer space.
If this is a paper and allows you to go into more detail, I would organize the advantages and disadvantages and do a paragraph or two on the issue of energy storage/batteries.
Good luck!