X-Message-Number: 21961 Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2003 00:41:53 -0500 From: Subject: Re: coal/oil/gas/solar Kennita Watson asked, > >For now I have a question -- how much of a gap in price >would need to be closed for solar power to become a >financially attractive alternative (not just in theory, >but to investors and on Wall Street) to coal, oil, and/or >natural gas? Do you see this gap closing? If so, >when and how (by rising oil/natural gas prices and/or by >falling solar prices)? What are the major impediments -- >political, cultural, regulatory, etc. -- to such (IMHO) >progress? Your questions cannot be answered precisely. However, research on solar power continues, progress continues, breakthroughs come all the time. And I don't see oil and gas getting cheaper. You may enjoy rooting around the web site of Spheral Solar Power - it makes solar sheets rather than solar panels. http://www.spheralsolar.com/ Note that Spheral Solar Power is rather vague as to exact cost saving in manufacture - but it only has a pilot plant at this time, and besides, such information may be proprietary. The solar sheets it makes are like tough flexible cloth - tiny silicon beads are sandwiched between two aluminum sheets. The sheets are flexible and can be cut to fit various shapes like a curved roof or car. They can even fit a jacket - power your cell phone. The sheets are very tough - a car can drive over them with no effect. -- Martha Olijnyk Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21961