Solar Energy Update

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02/01/2008

Feb. 01, 2008

Solar Energy Update

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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?

Produced by Karin Vergoth

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

Feb. 01, 2008