The energy industry is the largest industry in the world. This industry includes extracting, producing and marketing products. Products in the oil industry mainly include Oil and Gas. Peak Oil is a term used to describe the the point were the global petroleum extraction is reached. It is estimated that by the ear 2020 petroleum extraction will reach the peak. This issue is widely worrisome, after the oil peak it is evaluated that global petroleum production will rapidly fall where all Oil wells are going to be depleted. Scientists worldwide are extremely worried and are looking for alternative sources of energy to compensate future oil depletion. Focuses nowadays are around efficient alternative sources which could be slightly comparable to petroleum efficiency.
One of the most efficient sources of energy is the solar thermal energy. Solar thermal energy is often referred to a technology harnessing both solar and thermal energy sources. One of the main aspects of Solar Thermal energy is its cost effective efficiency. Research is ongoing globally in order to adapt this highly effective energy technology.TU Delft (Delft University of Technology) is the main axis of research to improve the efficiency of this technology. This research tackles the improvement of the efficiency from 7% to 9%.
On wednesday, the california regulators approved the construction of a 370 Megawatt solar-thermal power plant. over 9 facilities that will double the United States solar power generation capacity. The solar thermal power plant is going to be located in the mojave desert in california in three parts. This construction is privately owned by BrightSource Energy Corp. However, this project still requires the approval of the Unites States Bureau of land management as the land on which the project is going to be constructed is owned by the government, a federal land. The department of treasure along with the department of energy granted BrightSource a 1.4 billion dollars loan in order to facilitate the financing of the project.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100922-713910.html
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/economical-solar-panels-more-energy/
9/22
If this is entirely true, then it is great. It is hard to quantify 370 megawatts but I still think that this sounds very expensive. Not to continue repeating myself, but there is a nuclear plant North of the Twin Cities of Minnesota where I live. This plant generates 1,096 megawatts. Obviously there are major differences between these two technologies. But when it comes down to the sheer volume of power in this instance, it is easy to see what technology has been further developed. I am not opposed to solar energy at all. I just do not want our government or any company to invest heavily in a relatively young technology.
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