"Understanding the Future of Sustainable
Energy"
Electric Power
Carbon Sequestration
Wind
Solar
Hydro
Natural Gas
Integrated Solar Energy
Biomass
Conversion Efficiency
Nuclear
Integrated Solar Energy
The concept is to integrate solar photovoltaic and thermal plants with wind, pumped-hydro storage and highly efficient biomass generation to provide reliable sustainable energy.
All energy on earth originates from the sun. Even fossil fuels (natural gas, oil and coal) were formed from biomass over thousands of years. As a society we convert solar energy, including that stored as fossil fuels, into useful energy in the form of electricity, transportation, heat and light. The more efficiently and directly we can use solar energy the better off we are.
Renewable technologies are generally challenged with cost and intermittent challenges. By integrating large scale highly efficient renewable resources it should be possible to drive the cost of renewable energy down with 100% electrical reliability.
By deploying large solar thermal electrical generation systems (without exotic materials) in areas with high solar irradiance the price of solar generation should drop substantially. By integrating thermal storage and pumped-hydro storage, solar energy can be dispatched as desired. Biomass, hydro, and geothermal generation (among other) can then further be used to meet dynamic load demands.
For transportation direct electric trains and buses with battery electric personal vehicles supported by electrified roads can be used to achieve 100% sustainable transportation.