The solar industry is still in the emerging stage and not really ready for prime time.
Because yes, it's renewable and yeah, it's kinda free - but so far the upfront costs and everything associated with maintaining and
creating it does not make it all that cost effective - compared to other means of creating energy.
As a very liberal friend of mine once pointed out - you just can't beat digging a hole in the ground and pumping energy out (oil).
What's strange to me is, I had this very conversation with a classmate -- in high school.
Basically, you still can't get enough energy from solar to power your home - and forty years later, it's still true.
The irony is - that classmate went on to MIT and founded Solyndra. Yeah. I knew the guy.
Chess team. Math team. Big brother was one of my friends.
The REASON we push solar is "green". It doesn't pollute. The sun isn't going away.
The problem is, our energy requirements keep going up, and solar technology still isn't getting anywhere close
to converting most or all of the energy it gets into electricity. Not even close. And while a power plant or
hydroelectric dam or even an old generator might work for decades - solar panels still have a comparatively short
life. And they all run, rain or shine, day or night.
So I'm not weeping over solar - not until it's ready to compete with the big boys.
