The amount of solar energy the bathes the earth in a single hous cold, if harnessed, supply energy needs around the wold for a year. The tecnology to harvest even a tiny fraction of that energy at a reasonable cost does not yet exist-but we´re getting closer. It now costs seven times as much to create electricity from solar panels as it does from burning coal. Why the high price tag? Silicon is expensive, and it´s needed to make the photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight to nergy, as seen here near San Luis Obispo, Calif. Another factor: new technology and the infrastructure to support it require substancial up front investments.
Even so, the price of solar energy has declined steeply in the past few yaers and will continue to fall. Add tax breaks and other forms of official support, along with economies of the businness matures, and solar power ,which produces no carbon emissions or other greenhouse gases, Begins to look competitive with cheap but dirty hydrocarbons.
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