[ale] Intelligent Power (was global warming) [OT]

[Jim Popovitch]

On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 11:02 PM, George Allen <glallen01 at gmail.com> wrote:
>  Say - layout a grid-array of solar panels over say... most of Nevada...

Who's land?  :-)

That is one of the big stumbling blocks.

I was down at a south-of-Georgia power company last week (a power
company that invests heavily in fossil fuel, wind, solar, nuclear and
wave research, and I had a unusual chance to discuss solar technology
with some of their engineers.  The key take away was that todays solar
panel technology just isn't good enough.  In order for solar power to
be a commercially viable business there needs to be greater cell
density (watt per square inch).   I forget the exact numbers stated,
but it was the equivalent of needing a 1 foot square panel to produce
what a football sized series of panels produce today.

-Jim P.