'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution

[Glow9]

thats not possible for most countries (norway is an exeption, and it also might be possible for austira to subtitute all of its electrical power generation with alternative power sources) but we are only talking about elelctrical electrical power generation. When you take heat genearation into the equation you simply cant satisfy the demand with alternativ energy sources alone.

The biggest problem you have is the economic growth, people/industry always need more energy and theres only a limited potential to exploit in each country. Take france for example, they nearly have used all there hydropower potential but it only makes up for a tiny ammount of there energy needs, even with windpower and so on. Right now they need nuclear energy or they have no electrical energy at all.

Well potentially they could switch to a breeder reactor which is much more efficient but nobody is willing to insure a nuclear power plant nor do many people want them in their back yards. So having something thats running on plutonium is kinda terrifying. Ironically I wouldn't be surprised if brainwashed people in Southern states would be fine with them considering they seem to think everything is fine climate wise since theirs never changes and oil companies control everything. Unlike the rest of us who have seen drastic changes in the last 20 years especially people living in colder climates.

The key is that each countries "answer" is different based upon what they have to work with.
Solar, to some degree, works for all.
no, it isn't the total answer but a part of that answer.
Then countries with large fast flowing rivers use hydro in addition.
Some can use Geo thermal..
It's looking at the entire problem and then applying what "you" have for resources that can solve the problem.
Even if the best case scenario in some countries is to only do 50% of the needs thats one hell of improvement over what is done now.
My personal feeling is that to start I'd like to see a law passed that every new home built HAS to be self sufficient in it's needs in electrical power to a 20% overbuild of projected needs then any extra not needed gets sold back to the grid. It would add a chunk to the price but that new additional home would not be furthering the degradation of the planet or adding additional loads to an already overburdened electrical grid( in the USA)

Having tax / subsidies for older houses which are drastically inefficient would be better. Think of the millions and millions of houses who haven't changed since the the 50s upgrading them is relatively easy compared to some which were built in the early 1900s. 2 years ago I lived in a 100 year old house and our heating bill for 1 month in winter was $400. Plus these upgrades are good for local economies and yes putting rules on new houses would be great too. The thing is you can go to cities now where they need to meet code X and they are only built to code Y.