I heard an interesting lecture the other day that has really stuck with me. According to the lecturer, a google search, Reader's Digest, and even Al Gore, the solar energy that falls on the earth in a forty minute span is enough, if we had the infrastructure, to provide 100% of the entire earth's energy needs. For a whole freaking year!
Now the problem of course, is the capital cost of the infrastructure. $500-850 billion dollars. That's right, at the most, the cost would equal the cost of the American tax payer's bailout of the mortgage industry.
Now, there's no way corporate America would allow such a solar infrastructure unless they could control every aspect of it (meaning exploit it for maximum profit...the American way), so I don't think we'll ever see such in my lifetime, but it's got me to thinking about solar panels on my little ranch house, a $15-20 thousand dollar expense that I can't really afford but may need to, practically, and as a way of thumbing my nose at the powers that be. What would you think if your neighbor had the south side of his roof covered in solar panels? Would it distract from the aesthetics of the neighborhood? Should aesthetics be the priority?
