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Published online 5 December 2007 | Nature 450, 768-769 (2007) | doi:10.1038/450768a
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Solar power: California's latest gold rush
Green-energy companies are enjoying a boom in investment. But will they live up to expectation, asks Declan Butler.
Silicon Valley is greening. Investors are flocking to low-carbon (clean) energy technologies, fuelling a boom in the sector, with investments set to overtake those in Internet start-ups.
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This is an extremely important article because it draws the fact to the eyes of people there are other ways to go.
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The special report by Declan Butler is very stimulating. In many countries, there is little support for the use of alternative sources of energy. The concept is natural and fantastic. Most existing commercial ventures look for making a quick buck; this harms the environment. Tropical countries like India have one of the world’s largest activities for the production of solar devices, but this is insufficient to cater to the expanding population. India literally has the energy (shining gold for at least 10 months in a year) in abundance and that can be utilized efficiently but should be made available at a reasonable cost. Therefore this technology must be improved to bring down the cost effectively in order to turn around the polluted environs. I am sure that venture capitalists will strike it big- there is no doubt about this. We need to create more energy companies especially in countries like India and China and look for long term solutions on a mammoth scale. This can certainly make Solar energy soar high up on the x-axis on a bar graph of world-energy use. Vijaya Gopal, Hyderabad, India
This comment has been removed by the moderator
The special report by Declan Butler is very stimulating. In many countries, there is little support for the use of alternative sources of energy. The concept is natural and fantastic. Most existing commercial ventures look for making a quick buck; this harms the environment. Tropical countries like India have one of the world’s largest activities for the production of solar devices, but this is insufficient to cater to the expanding population. India literally has the energy (shining gold for at least 10 months in a year) in abundance and that can be utilized efficiently but should be made available at a reasonable cost. Therefore this technology must be improved to bring down the cost effectively in order to turn around the polluted environs. I am sure that venture capitalists will strike it big- there is no doubt about this. We need to create more energy companies especially in countries like India and China and look for long term solutions on a mammoth scale. Vijaya Gopal, Hyderabad, India
All of the facts are very well taken. I do carry a bit of reluctance to accept the comment, "....only sunlight is available in the amounts required to substitute completely for the energy quantities currently derived from hydrocarbons."... To overlook the infinite available kinetic energy constant in oceans and river flows that work 24/7 is somewhat tinted with bravado. But that is to be expected when billions of investor dollars are involved. Ray Tostado Los Angeles, USA