SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Every minute, the sun bombards Earth with enough energy to supply its power needs for a year. Yet only two one-hundredths of a percent of all the electricity fed into the U.S. grid originates from sunlight.
The world still largely relies on diminishing supplies of environmentally unfriendly and politically destabilizing fossil fuels. Despite decades of research, it's still cheaper to burn coal than get power from the sun.
But photovoltaic technology is improving efficiency and lowering costs for solar power, and experts believe the development will in the next few years drive solar adoption far faster than any government incentives or environmental concerns.
"Today, if solar energy were available in a quantity and at a cost comparable to fossil fuel, it would be a revolutionary change," said Stephen Empedocles, business development director at Nanosys Inc. The Palo Alto, California-based startup is working on photovoltaic cells so small and cheap that they can be sprayed or even painted onto surfaces.
MORE....
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/biztech/04 ... index.html
Цивилизации возникают, расцветают, потом погибают, также как любая жизнь, и вообще, всё что угодно. Даже у Вселенной было начало и, по всей вероятности, будет конец.
