As I discussed in Solar Power Part 1, humans have been tinkering with solar energy for some time. So what makes the 21st century different, if at all?

To get a professional perspective, I spoke with Ron Rich, President of Atmosphere Recovery, Inc. His company owns a process that makes industrial furnaces run more efficiently, even recycling their CO2 emissions. In past lives, he’s been the head of the Minnesota Energy Agency and was the first solar systems engineer for Honeywell. He's quite the energy number cruncher and provided me with a good bird's eye view of the solar photovoltaic market. He believes that the 21^st century will be different from the 1940s, when there was a big solar push after WWII, and different from the 1970s, when there was a big solar push during the oil crisis.

He points out that although gas prices have come down from an average last year of $2.58, the interest in solar remains high because people are starting to see the impacts of global warming. Their concerns, as well as our over-reliance on fossil fuels and the wars that that dependence gets us in, are overriding the fact that gas prices have come down a few dimes and are predicted to average out to $2.51 per gallon in 2007. Rich is confident that this time, the U.S. is poised to launch itself into a clean energy economy with solar energy an important part of it.

For one thing, the cost of solar is coming down and will come down even further with mass production urged on by policies like the Million Solar Roofs plan in California. Check out the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency for a state-by-state guide to incentives and rebates, and this article in Mother Earth News for a good intro to calculating the payback time of a solar power system.

Rich also predicts that creative financing for could become more widespread and easier for homeowners. Options include building the cost of the PV system into the home’s mortgage, increased incentives, or solar easements. Solar systems could get more attractive too, like solar shingles or more subtle PV panels.

Solar is made from widely available materials, with more and more high tech improvements being made. In December 2006, solar power was in the news when a project reached an efficiency rate of 40.7 percent, the highest ever for sunlight-to-electricity performance. In a recent Green Options post, Philip Proefrock reported on a new model of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels that can produce more watts per square foot that the traditional model and uses 88% less PV material. And one company has even patented a technology using nanosilicon PV cells that can be sprayed onto windows in a thin film, allowing the windows themselves to produce electricity.

All signs seem to be pointing to a brighter path for solar; more financing options, better technology, and more supportive policies and incentives could make the early 21^st century the dawn of the solar age.