Brian Houston
I'm a green technology enthusiast - and the community manager of CleanLeap. I was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska but currently hang my hat in Brisbane, Australia. I started working in the Internet industry in 1996 and never left. In 2006 I founded the alternative video community VideoSift. Here's a picture of me holding up a fish I caught, just for the halibut.
From this author
According to projections from the United Nations, Earth's human population is on track to reach eleven billion people by 2050; and in case this seems like a a far distant future, keep in mind that as of 2017 this is a mere 33 years away–a single generation. How will the Earth feed all of these people? Vat-grown burgers!
Although renewable energy is moving forward on many fronts like wind, hydro and marine energy, it's solar energy– and specifically the photovoltaic panel variety – that is showing the most progress and potential for becoming the dominant source of energy on Earth. This article discusses a few reasons why solar panels may eventually dominate fossil fuel and other renewable resources:
Although the energy industry is still working to make CCS effective using large mechanical and chemical solutions, there may be a better answer coming from nano-technology. Lawrence Livermore Laboratories are working on a new solution that uses tiny permeable nano-beads filled with a solution of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3).
Windstream Technologies is the American manufacturer of a new type of hybrid renewable energy source. Called the "SolarMill", the device combines PV panels with savonius-type (helix) wind turbines and a built-in inverter. The result is a compact source of energy that is able to make the best of both sunlight and prevailing wind currents.
A new report from a respected German energy think tank highlights the rapid drop in the price of solar energy. Agora Energiewende's comprehensive report uses current and past statistics about the reduction in the production price for solar PV panels to project into the future. Their forecast indicates that solar PV-based energy will be the cheapest source of power within the decade and down to an amazing US 2c/kWh by 2050, much cheaper than gas-fired power plants at US 9c/kWh or any other form of fossil fuel including coal.