There is a general agreement developing around the world that we need to quickly find a cost-effective way of providing environmentally friendly conversion of energy into electricity. At the top of everyone's list of environmentally friendly energy sources is the sun. Solar energy is constantly hitting and being absorbed by the Earth through natural processes. So why not make use of some of this energy to meet our electricity needs? Why burn up our natural resources and leave pollutant byproducts in our atmosphere when energy is constantly being beamed to Earth by the sun anyways?
Most of the public doesn't know what goes into the creation of a solar power plant and what goes into the creation of home solar cell energy systems. For one thing, refined silicon in massive amounts would be required to fabricate enough solar cells to have a significant impact on global energy usage. Further, solar energy collection requires a long surface plain for installation. You can't just start collecting a significant amount of solar power from your third-floor apartment in a high-rise building because you don't have a wide enough surface area for solar panel installation to face the sun. The need for extra real estate is one of the things that drives up the cost of capturing solar energy for conversion to electricity.
However, these complexities aside, we are far from using all of the resources we already have available to collect solar energy. Companies are hard at work researching for breakthrough technologies that will allow us to get the most out of the solar energy hitting us daily. For example, research is being done on how to integrate solar collection panels into the construction of high-rise buildings. Research is also being done to determine if there is an efficient way of turning roadways, carports, and parking lots into solar arrays. So far a method of producing electricity by these means at a profit has not been found, though at a financial loss these solar energy collection products can now be installed.
So now many companies, such as CoolEarth Solar, are researching cheaper ways to manufacture and install these systems. If they ever find a way to manufacture, install, and operate these systems at a rate comparable to coal-based energy production facilities, solar power could suddenly become our most viable energy source.
One of the most promising technologies being studied is the use of balloons to capture and concentrate solar energy. The advantage of balloons is obvious: they float above the ground so that the costs of their usage to collect solar energy are not as increased by real estate costs. Some have estimated that the use of balloons could reduce the costs of capturing solar energy from those of using ground mirrors by as much as 400 times. So instead of costing the current four dollars per watt of capacity, these balloon systems could cost as little as one cent per watt of capacity.
