Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
But why don't we all move over to solar power?
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Last time I checked you need a solar panel roughly 1 square yard in size to generate 1hp of energy. To make a solar car with enough solar panels to power it at a reasonable level of performance reliably, the car would need to be about the size of a football field.
Solar, wind, etc have very important uses. Right now we are getting 4% of our power from alternative energy. People laugh at 4% but that is because they don't stop to think just how much 4% of our total energy usage really amounts to... in the coming years we will likely get it to more like 8 or 10% which is definitely significant, but it is not a panacea.
The best hope for real energy solutions remains Hydrogen fuel produced at pebble-bed atomic powered refineries. Unfortunately we are decades away from that and very little money is being put into the necessary R&D
