An Ambitious Grand Plan: The U.S. solar-powered by 2050

[sparky]

By 2050 solar power could end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions.

A Solar Grand Plan: Scientific American

Good stuff

[addict]

Hope this doesn't give Bush ideas about invading the sun

[LMagic007]

On the basis that Solar Thermal with storage can provide about 70% capacity factor, the 69% they estimate seems in line with this factor.

But $420 billion in subsidies from 2011 to 2050 would be required to fund the infrastructure and make it cost-competitive

A Solar Grand Plan: Scientific American

Hmm that seems a bit less than the cost of the Iraq war to date, that's now costing around $100 billion a year. Sounds like a good investment over 40 years. I actually think conceptually at least, their goal is quite achievable as solar energy wattage production is growing globally at 30% per year. They might near get there by default, based on current growth rates for solar.

[emz]

It would be great if something like this managed to take off. Here's hoping