Forward Thinking

Something Americas leaders have not been accused of. Wasting billions on illegal wars, they have been accused. The Germans, on the other hand, are working hard to integrate solar into their power grid.

Researchers will be sharing data and expertise to speed up the market introduction of large-scale solar thermal plants. The plants could supply up to 200 megawatts (MW) of electricity and desalinate water for 50,000 people.

Electricity from solar thermal plants could cost as little as €0.04/kilowatt hour (kWh) [US $0.06/kWh] by 2015 to 2020, Bernhard Milow from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) said. And using solar thermal power to desalinate seawater could cost the same.

"The technology and science is all there. It's just a question of transferring that knowledge to those who have the sunshine and optimizing the technology to make it competitive," Milow said.

Electricity from solar thermal plants currently costs €0.20 to 0.30/kWh [US $0.31 to 0.47/kWh], depending on the location of the plant and the amount of sunshine it receives. But with improvements in the performance of plants and better sites, solar thermal electricity could soon be cheaper than coal, and so generate huge amounts of reliable, clean electricity in hot desert regions, Milow said.

Even factoring in high steel prices and other costs, a kWh of electricity could still be as low as €0.06-0.07/kWh [US $0.09-0.11/kWh] if the power plants are in prime locations, Milow said.

That is cheaper than coal now. But if you add the future cost of coal burning it is far more competitive than coal. From Gristmill.

Federal legislation has been introduced that would have the net impact of taxing carbon. If any of the proposals are adopted, utility companies and their customers will pay far more for energy which produces carbon. It will also require spending billions on equipment to clean the atmosphere as thoroughly as possible. Building additional coal plants now is likely to create a significant economic liability for Kansas in the future.

Note that this is not an environmental argument. You don't have to care about climate change to see its logic. Events are likely to conspire to sharply increase the price of coal. You build two new dirty coal plants and you're hanging them around your own neck for the next 50 years. That's short-sighted.

Just think how much solar power we could have if we invested the war money in solar projects. We need forward thinking politicians to force the issue.