Given the increasingly obvious impacts of weather changes on our planet's ecosystem, the demand for clean energy solutions to our energy consumption needs must be addressed as soon as possible. Solar energy will likely be a key component of any complete solution to our energy needs (if we are even up to the challenge, which as yet looks highly ambiguous) and Taming the Sun describes to the general audience the prospects and challenges of the solar industry. It discusses various national ambitions within solar technology, it discusses the economics of solar as well as the challenges of intermittency and it discusses the need to a rethinking of funding basic research on energy solutions as there remains a gap between basic science research budget needs and R&D dedicated to technology which has commercial viability. This is a must read for those interested in the prospects for solar energy, it is not a panacea.
The author begins by painting two pictures of the world, one where we have been able to reduce our carbon footprint and one where we haven't. The latter is a scary picture and the former is not the path we are currently on. Nonetheless the author then starts to discuss the various country targets that have been stated in India, Japan, Europe etc and on the various national goals to increase solar dependence meaningfully in the coming decades. The author then discusses the gains in solar efficiency over the previous decades and the way that solar industry vertical stack looks like and how the solar ecosystem is connected. The author also describes where solar manufacturing is taking place and the evolution of the manufacturing from pre to post the financial crisis. The solar industry is a pretty fascinating case study on the impacts of subsidized capital on national comparative advantage. In particular China is now by far the leader in solar cell manufacturing and has completely destroyed the industry profitability and their entry led to fierce competition and then insolvency for most US players. To some extent this could be seen as beneficial for prices but at the same time innovation has now narrowed as incumbent technology is now the complete focus in a narrower competitive space such that there is less reason to innovate. The author also discusses the problems with solar power for maintaining grids with the cost issues associated with variable power sources. In particular a grid obligated to buy power from solar has to have intermittent power supply in the evenings when demand migrates from business to home use, but starting and stopping gas fired plants to bolster energy supply is expensive and power grids are struggling to deal with the disruptive aspects of solar supply. The author describes various ways of trying to fund large scale solar projects and the various financial instruments that might be used to tap into the large scale institutional capital pools that would be needed to solve society wide capex plans and the ideas are interesting and could be the seeds of actual solutions. The author is a material scientist so he also discusses some of the new materials that could revolutionize solar usage but these remain in research stages and years away from commercial viability. The author also spends time discussing a lot of grid ideas as current grids, as mentioned above, have issues with the intermittent nature of solar. He gets into basic physics issues like A/C vs D/C (solar being a D/C source) and the use of inverters but also poses the foundational question of whether D/C power grids might be superior in certain circumstances. The author returns to the question of how to solve the futures energy needs while keeping our carbon footprint at a level that doesn't lead to potential doom. Current solar + battery ideas are just not feasible (another section the author spends time on, discussing Musk's idea and arguing it is not a realistic total solution). The author discusses hydrogen cells and a few other ideas but he makes the argument that we need more government funding for basic science research as our current ideas are not good enough to solve our problems. The current technologies we have can be partial solutions but not total and we need more funding to think creatively on radically new ideas.
If one wants to better understand solar technology this book is worth reading. One learns about the science and economics of the solar industry including the history of the industry. The book gives some reason for optimism but as well is a strong reminder we cannot be complacent as we do not have the solutions to our problems. We need more policy makers to read books like this and absorb the lessons. Not taking the contents of a book like this seriously will be our downfall.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2018
- Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2018
- Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2018
Top reviews from other countries
-
- DanReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2019
An important book for energy policy makers
