The broken promise of solar energy
I first became interested in energy when I was in college in the mid-1980s. I took a class called “solar energy” where we spent most of the semester discussing things like the best angle for maximum heat transfer in parabolic solar thermal devices (which was about as exciting as it sounds). Towards the end of the semester the professor introduced us to a solar technology that I had never heard of – photovoltaics. Photovoltaics captured my imagination, and a lot of my academic and working life since. The idea of a high-tech device that converts sunlight to electricity with no moving parts and no fuel combustion struck me as amazing and wonderful – something out of a science fiction novel. Clean and safe electricity generation! My fascination with photovoltaics led me to decide, after getting a B.S. in physics, to attend a graduate engineering program that focused on energy and atmospheric studies. That work was fascinating – I got involved in projects like figuring ou...