n0spam4me
VIP Member
Technology needs to be refined, note that many years ago, the only technology available for electrical energy storage was a lead-acid battery, however technology has become refined over the years such that we can now have battery powered flying toys (etc.... ) The fact is, Solar ( photovoltaic ) is in its infancy, is one factor here. The analog to this scene is the evolution in light bulbs, the incandescent light served for more than a century, and a proposed replacement was the "CFL" lamp, but it had HUGE problems, and now we have the LED light that is taking over as a practical replacement for the incandescent lamp. So the solar panel of today may be simply a marginally productive tangent and possibly the heat-engine type solar utilization is the way to go, time will tell. The truly sustainable aspect will be achieved at such time as there is sufficient capacity in alternative energy to power the factory that produces the hardware necessary for the use of the alternative energy technology. We are obviously decades away from that program ( some genius please prove me wrong ) however it is completely valid to work toward that goal.