Solar Energy Update (broadcast Friday, February 1st, 2008)

The SEGS IV power plant in the middle of the solar field. The field has many parallel rows of parabolic trough collectors that are tracking the sun. The cooling towers can be seen with the water plume rising into the air. The white water tanks can be seen Sandia National Laboratory, via NREL

In this week's State of the Union address, President Bush said that "our security, our prosperity and our environment all require reducing our dependence on oil." In this segment, we'll take a look at progress in one field that could help do just that -- solar power.

Solar power is often offered as one of the most promising forms of renewable energy. While the public often focuses its attention on solar photovoltaics -- the solar panels that change solar energy directly into electricity, as in a pocket calculator -- solar thermal technologies are making great strides. In its simplest forms, solar thermal techniques can heat water for a swimming pool or a shower. High performance, high temperature solar thermal devices can be used to drive a turbine and generate electricity. We'll get an update on where the technology -- and the industry -- stands. How effective can solar power be, and how close is the solar power industry to being able to deliver on the promise of the technology? Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests

Rhone Resch
President
Solar Energy Industries Association
Washington, DC

Evan Schwartz
Writer and Producer, NOVA's "Saved By the Sun"
Author, Juice: The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors (Harvard Business School Press, 2004)
Ridgefield, Connecticut

Related Links

Segment produced by:Karin Vergoth

Image: A Dish Stirling Solar power system undergoing testing at the Arizona Public Service utility's Solar Test and Research Center in Tempe.
Bill Timmerman, via NREL

Image: Solar troughs have a parabolic shape with mirrors aligned to concentrate sunlight onto a receiver tube located along the trough's focal line. There is fluid inside the receiver tube that is heated to a high temperature of approximately 300 degrees Celsius
Geri Kodey, via NREL