03-06 Solar Surprises

I remember my first trip to the Netherlands and noticing how crops were growing right up to the side of a local highway. No space is wasted when such a large population occupies such a small space. Just love the creation of a solar bike path.
One of the critical issues with solar power is finding space for large utility projects. No surprise that Chernobyl, an area abandoned because of a nuclear disaster, is now the site of a solar farm.
And in Huainan, China, a flooded area serves as the location for a solar farm. The water, of course, serves to keep the panels cool.
Not unusual around the world to find abandoned coal mines flooded and the area used for utility solar.
Now that solar panels can be made of light flexible materials, it will be no surprise to see buses and cars with solar rooves. And what is called a Tindo bus in Adelaide, Australia has a solar roof. Tindo is an aboriginal word for ‘sun’.
There is a city in China, running mostly on solar power. It is De Zhou, and is referred to as Solar City. And there we have solar panels on the rooves of cars and buses. We are looking at our future.
And, another interesting idea is building solar panels over a canal to save water from evaporating. It is in Gujarat, India.
If there is anything that will characterize climate change it will be drought. A crisis issue for those parts of the world that are called either arid or semi-arid. This is not just a problem for places like India but includes 20% of the US.
How lucky for people living near the Great Lakes that hold 20% of the world’s fresh water.
And, another marvelous photo showing the imaginative utilization of solar technology. A photovoltaic road in Jinan, China.
Looking at renewables like nuclear, solar, wind, biofuels and hydro, the most interesting is solar.
Scientist have discovered new lighter and cheaper materials for converting light into electricity, and engineers have developed applications that seemed impossible just a few years ago. Like solar clothing, solar sidewalks and solar cars.
And what is of special interest looking at solar energy, is that the economics of small-scale rooftop solar is as good as the economics of large-scale utility solar.