Humanity faces a new energy crisis. A growing population and rising energy consumption require a move away from polluting, finite energy supplies now in use. Renewable energy sources such as conventional solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal power are practically inexhaustible or can be regenerated or recycled, however, they can only meet a portion of projected needs.

        Of all the renewable energy sources, solar energy holds the key to an inexhaustible, non-polluting energy supply, because the heat and light from the Sun is the most abundant form of energy. More energy from the Sun falls on the Earth in one hour than is used by everyone in the world in one year. In one day, the Sun provides more energy than our current population would consume in 27 years. In fact, "The amount of solar radiation striking the earth over a three-day period is equivalent to the energy stored in all fossil energy sources." Besides, the sun has been producing energy in this manner for around five billion years, and will continue to do so for several more billion. While it's neither possible nor necessary to use but a small portion of this energy, we've hardly begun to tap the potential of solar energy.

        Solar energy has and intrinsic importance for humanity because it has given rise to most of the other energy sources currently available, including fossil fuels. Heat from the Sun creates atmospheric conditions conductive to wind and water production. The Sun produces the light necessary for growing the plants and tress which constitute the biomass category. Finally, as we found out earlier, decaying plants and animals (which storage solar energy) millions of years ago produced the coal, oil and natural gas that we use today. So, fossil fuels actually got their start as sunlight many millions of years ago. Moreover, solar energy is responsible for the photosynthesis and all the food we eat is yesterday’s sunshine!

        In one way or another solar energy has been used for thousands of years, mainly, as a source of heat. Still, it’s possible to find people who would rather hang laundry to dry in the Sun than using the dryer machines. But, even though solar energy has been used for some time already, there are certain major problems that must be dealt with before solar energy can be used extensively. The Sun doesn’t shine steadily but intermittently. When it shines, it is not always at the same intensity and some of the rays are bent or reflected by water droplets or dust particles in the atmosphere. Thus, although every location on Earth receives sunlight, the amount received varies greatly depending on geographical location, time of day, season and clouds. This makes solar energy very unreliable. If the solar plant has a few cloudy days, there will be no electricity for the town. This is not an option for many towns and cities. Therefore, the success of solar power will depend on the answer to the following question: What do you do when the sun goes down? The simple answer is to build an auxiliary system that will store energy when the sun is out. However, the problem is that such storage systems are unavailable today.

        On the other hand, a relatively large area is required to collect enough energy at a useful rate. Thousands of square feet of solar cells are required to generate enough power for even a very small town. A large city simply doesn’t have enough room for a solar plant. Even more dramatic is to consider that solar collectors covering less than half of Nevada could supply all of the United States’ energy needs.

        One important factor about solar energy is the fact that the Sun’s radiation arrives at no cost to everyone and is available during any clear day. The only cost is the equipment used to harness the Sun’s energy and storage this energy to be used when direct solar energy is unobtainable. The current equipments are relatively expensive, but still, solar energy is cost effective right now if we consider the cost to our health from air pollution generate by the competition.

        I consider ridiculous the comments from certain people who try to minimize the potential of solar energy to power our society by saying that "not one single study has been done to assess the safety of electricity from solar energy as compared to electricity from other sources." In principle, there is not distinction between electrons transported by one process or another. The comparison of solar energy to nuclear energy has no basis either. Yes, solar energy is generated by nuclear fusion within the Sun and this process operates on the very same basic laws of nuclear physics used in nuclear power plants and atomic bombs. But we are dealing here with the electromagnetic radiation originated from a nuclear process occurring at millions of miles away from us. If solar radiation were so dangerous then we wouldn’t be able to survive. Besides, we are already subject to a natural "background" radiation from the Sun. In the same arguments, for the first time I here that beneficiating from the sunlight might be harmful for our eyes.