Energy Innovation

Tom Friedman: "A breakthrough innovation is always hard to predict and the case of energy will be no different. 'you are not going to see it coming,' Bill Gates said to me in an interview. 'the breakthrough will probably come out of somewhere you least expect, and we'll only know how it happened looking backward.'"

A Brief Analysis of Photovoltaic Solar Power Industry

We rcently published a research report on the solar power industry with a focus on photovoltaic technologies. The report provides an overview of the photovoltaic (PV) market, covering major PV technologies, recent developments of some of the major players in the industry, and a summary of various government initiatives aimed at helping to accelerate the growth of the sector.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the resource potential for PV is effectively unlimited relative to electricity demand. Furthermore, PV can be sited anywhere at any scale, which makes the long term growth potential of PV as a major energy supplier very promising.

With technological breakthroughs constantly on the horizon within the PV industry , the cost gap between generating electricity from burning fossil fuels and generating electricity from PV systems is getting smaller and smaller. We believe that a large portion of tomorrow's clean energy will be provided by these increasingly efficient, high yield solar cells.

"Developing low-cost, renewable energy generation is crucial to meeting our nation's increasing demand for electricity," said U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu. "By investing in the development of low-cost solar technologies we can create new jobs and pave the way towards a clean-energy future."

Solar Power Industry Report: Major Solar Thermal Players

Today, we published a research report on the solar power industry. The report provides an overview of the solar energy market, various solar thermal technologies, and the current status of some of the major players in the industry.

Within the solar market, it is widely believed that tomorrow's solutions will be a combination of photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal (Concentrated Solar Power or CSP) technologies. While PV technologies are suitable where direct sunlight is scarce and where small-scale rooftop or scattered power generation is required, CSP clearly is more efficient for larger scale generation in desert environments with strong direct sunlight.

A US Department of Energy study cites that the cost of solar energy from PV panels could be anywhere from 20 to 40 cents per kWh depending on the size of the panel. In contrast, the cost of energy from a CSP plant could be as low as 18 cents per kWh over the plant's lifetime. Recent innovations in the industry have brought the cost from CSP plants even lower.

To read the complete report , please go to: http://www.floyd-associates.com/solar2.pdf. To read more about Floyd Associates please visit www.floyd-associates.com or contact us by email at info@floyd-associates.com or by phone at: +1 (310) 300-0890.

Energy Crisis and Its Consequences

The global energy crisis is one of the few topics that cross my mind on a daily basis. The actions that we take today and our energy policies will have profound effects not just on the way we live tomorrow but also on whether or not we will Be a leading nation in an increasingly competitive world.

One quote I read recently in a Thomas Friedman book caught my attention. I would like to invite others to comment on this.

There are "five key problems that a hot, flat, and crowded world is dramatically intensifying. They are: the growing demand for ever scarcer energy supplies and natural resources; a massive transfer of wealth to oil-rich countries and their petrodictators; disruptive climate change; energy poverty, which is sharply dividing the world into electricity haves and electricity have-nots; and rapidly accelerating biodiversity loss, as plants and animals go extinct at record rates." (Hot, Flat, and Crowded, 26)

Arab states may become solar energy exporters

By: Nadim Kawach

Massive renewable energy projects undertaken by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries could turn them into solar energy exporters along with their large hydrocarbon exports, according to a veteran Arab energy analyst.

"After oil, Arab countries could start exporting solar energy," said Nicolas Sarkis, Director of the Paris-based Arab Petroleum Research Centre (APRC), which acts as an adviser to the 10-nation Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"The development of solar energy is rapidly becoming a priority of energy policies pursued by most countries in the Middle East and North Africa, whether oil and natural gas producers or not," Sarkis wrote in the APRC's monthly magazine, Arab Petroleum and Gas.He said that in non-oil Arab countries, the growing interest being shown in solar power and other renewable energy sources is dictated not only by the deterioration in their energy deficits and the insufficiency of their indigenous fossil fuel resources but also by environmental imperatives and the technological progress that characterises the development of renewable energies.

As for the large hydrocarbon exporting countries in the Arab World, the exploitation of their huge potential in the area of solar energy reflects a dual concern to protect the environment and prepare the post-oil era, he said.

FOR FULL ARTICLE GO TO: http://www.business24-7.ae/Articles/2010/2/Pages/06022010/02072010_07f3296e5cf24477a020cb7bef4f86fb.aspx