Solar Coming Soon(er)?

kurzweil1.jpgOur solar-powered future may arrive sooner than anticipated, according to recent comments by solar pioneer and visionary Ray Kurzweil.

Kurzweil, as part of a panel convened by the National Association of Engineers to address 14 “grand challenges of the 21st century”, believes that solar power will be cost-competitive with fossil fuels within 20 years, much sooner than pundits and industry insiders anticipate. It will also become efficient and feasible enough to fulfill nearly all of our energy needs within that time, if not sooner. “We also see an exponential progression in the use of solar power,” reported Kurzweil. “It is doubling now every two years… At that rate, we’ll meet 100 percent of our energy needs in twenty years.” He adds that, due to revolutionary new processes and materials such as nano-engineered fuel cells and solar concentrators constructed from parabolic mirrors, the panel is “confident that we are not that far away from a tipping point where energy from solar will be competitive with fossil fuels,” possibly within the next five years.

For more information about the panel and their list of the grand challenges facing us in the near future, please click here. See also the summary of the panel’s findings on solar on the National Association of Engineer’s website.


Posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am | Tagged in Energy, Energy Efficiency, Photovoltaics, Technology | posted by Bill

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