interesting reading list(SOLAR POWER)

Solar Power: An Economically Viable Energy Source
Since the 1973 oil embargo, oil price increases have been a concern for many nations, especially for the United States. Today's high fuel prices speak to the imperative to find alternative energy sources to fossil fuels. Solar power is one such potentially viable alternative. Why use solar power? In addition to its value as an environmentally 鬰lean?source of energy, solar power has economic value in terms of being a renewable resource that can be controlled by the nation or region using it for energy. Also, the use of solar power fits well into the model of 鬴ree market environmentalism?advocated by Terry Anderson (Anderson, 1997). Solar power thus bears examination in light of Anderson's model.
How feasible is it to use solar power as an energy source? The use of solar power has been tested on a large scale by the experiment of Solar Two, a solar power tower plant (U.S. Department of Energy, 2004). Using sunlight to generate energy was shown to be mechanistically effective and may also be cost-effective. However, its cost effectiveness depends on a number of factors and also on how it is compared to the economics of traditional power plants, such as those using coal and natural g`s. In examining the economics of power generation, it is often difficult to separate out the actual costs from the effects of subsidies (Tchakerian, 2005). However, in the future, as fossil fuels become scarcer, the need to move to alternative ene
. . .of the operator to secure a power purchase contract would be of primary importance, as the high start-up costs of the venture otherwise make building the plant too risky. An investor in a solar power plant would want assurances that the money put forth initially will be repaid in such as way to make up for both the funding and the level of risk, especially in terms of competition from other power sources in a deregulated environment. Therefore, it is necessary for a long-term power purchase contract to be in place before such a venture may be able to raise the needed funds from investors. This may require public education about the benefits of solar power, so that communities may opt for this newer form of energy. People must understand the advantages of solar power both from a present and future economic context. In the short term, the costs of solar power would likely reflect the need of operators to make up over time for the cost of building the plants. This cost would be distributed over time to consumers. However, the benefit of this over a natural gas power plant would be the security of knowing that political and economic events affecting fossil fuels or scarcity of these natural resources in the future would not apply to . . . Some common words found in the essay are:Department Energy, United Today's, solar power, Anderson Anderson, Hoover Dam, Retrieved April, Energy Source, power plant, department energy 2004, energy 2004, department energy, Cited Anderson, tchakerian 2005, solar power plant, Solar FAQs, power plants, Tchakerian VP, solar power plants, start-up cost, fossil fuels, energy source, Class Notes, free market environmentalism, energy solar power, photovoltaic cells, Approximate Word count = 1446 Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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