The sun is great. It gives us the most energy on earth bar none. The problems really get when people start trying to use photovoltaic cells and convert the sunlight into electricity.
Well thats just silly I say.
Sure the efficiency of those cells gets better every few years but lets face it, until carbon nanotubes become commonplace enough to mass produce them to funnel the sunlight into the cells, our efficiency won't get drastically better anytime soon.
I'd like to bring to the table an additional concept to pair with solar energy-
batteries
No no no, we shouldn't use photovoltaics to charge some duracells. We need to bring in the mac-daddy of "rechargeable batteries" that doesn't wear out over time, I give you the molten salt batteries. All you need to do is arrange simple mirrors in a a parabolic fashion to heat and melt a tank of salt. The salt is now a fluid that can be pumped anywhere else and generate electricity or it can just be put in a tank underground to store the energy for offpeak use.
But what about all of us that want to live further off the grid until power companies actually try such a crazy scheme? you say. I have an answer for that as well my friends.
Solar Death Ray
Now you may think that was a joke but he actually has the right idea. Using a thermo-acoustic sterling engine, you can use the same type of solar death ray model of mirrors or you can use a parabolic mirror like a chromed satellite dish. An example of this can be seen here. People could rather easily set these up at home and provide some other their own energy during the peak hours of the day. It might eliminate some of the other forms of power generation perhaps?
In short what have we learned today:
1. photo-voltaics: LAME
2. living entirely "on the grid": MEGA-LAME
3. melted salt: COOL
4. solar death ray: MEGA-COOL
Solar energy is pretty cool(anti-pun?) but we just need more efficient ways to harness the real power.
Like the solar death ray.
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