Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathgod
Unleeeeess...
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We should absolutely always be pushing forward with innovation and new tech, as we don't know where things will lead. Perovskite has shown promise... although so far, not at any scale, and it still has huge decaying issues (it lasts for months, compared to silicon panels which can last for 20+ years). I find solar great in small applications, but as of now and in the foreseeable future, solar is not something economies will rely on at a large scale for baseload energy.
Also one thing to keep in mind, is that even if you make solar panels dirt cheap and efficient, if you want to make it reliable 24 hours a day, you still need to store that energy somewhere...and that requires large-scale battery tech...which requires an ass-ton of minerals... which requires an ass-ton of mining. We should always be in pursuit of the most efficient and cleanest forms, but there is no such thing as resource free energy. It does not, and will not, exist.
HOWEVER...there is already a pretty magical green technology out there we can use for stable large scale electricity generation. It's reliable. It's extremely energy dense. It can be used for baseload energy. It's proven and safe. It's extremely clean. It has a small physical footprint (you'd need 75x more landmass for the same amount of solar energy!). It can be used day and night, in cold and hot, anywhere on earth. Any guesses what this magical tech is?