Full Title: Scientists Chart New Horizons: Solar Energy Cost Breakthrough Ahead?
Author(s): N. Lewis, G. Crabtree
Publisher(s): Solar Today
Publication Date: January 1, 2006
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Last April, to foster the next generations of technology that will enable even more widespread use of solar energy, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences convened a workshop in Bethesda, Md., to address “Basic Energy Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization.” Almost 200 scientists from around the world, by invitation only, seized this opportunity to lay the groundwork for a redoubled R&D effort to support new methods of using and converting solar energy. The outcome of this workshop was an authoritative report that reviewed the state of solar energy utilization technology, identified the key technological barriers that prevent solar energy usage from growing even more rapidly, and, in anticipation of a significant increase in R&D support for solar energy, identified 13 priority research directions designed to help move notions from the minds of laboratory researchers into technologies, and ultimately products, for the energy consumer.