Word: solarity
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Japan panel companies and the national government kick-started solar-power adoption with subsidies. A consumer who installs a solar-panel array on a house can sell surplus energy to the local utility. Germany has implemented that model most successfully, and it has been adopted not just in Japan but in South Korea and other European countries. Even with incentives, start-up costs are high, about $20,000 per household in Japan. "The biggest priority now is to reduce costs," says Seiichi Kiyama, general manager of the commercial group of Sanyo Electric's solar division...
True cost competitiveness is within reach. Panel costs have fallen 66% over the past decade. Company executives and outside analysts estimate that a further 50% reduction, which would make solar-powered-electricity costs comparable with other types of fuel, is possible within the next decade. And because natural-gas and coal prices are increasing along with oil prices, the cost competitiveness of solar power could come a lot earlier...
...government incentives are not as developed, but consumers are starting to demonstrate a new awareness of environmental issues. Consider the popularity of the Toyota Prius and other hybrid cars. And design advances are winning converts: see-through solar panels installed in place of regular window glass are a classy upgrade from black rooftop arrays...
...declaring the end of fossil fuels, and solar-panel proponents are wary not to repeat the unfulfilled promises of the past. Solar power accounts for less than 1% of the world's energy production, and even the rosiest forecasts predict that number won't exceed 10% by 2030. Still, the industry has got its jump start. "This is ultimately a hopeful business," says Kiyama. "And that makes it a good business...
...taught in schools. The people who oppose evolution so avidly are unaware of what it hypothesizes. I am a practicing Catholic but recognize that the church has made mistakes in the past when it comes to science. Copernicus and Galileo were both condemned for their assumptions of a heliocentric solar system. Does their theory mean that there is no God because Earth revolves around the sun? Does Darwin's theory mean that evolution was not part of God's plan? Please, keep faith where it belongs, and let science be science...