The transition to solar is happening faster than predicted,and now power can be stored when the sun isn’t shining. This book is a guide to the latest exciting developmentsA sense of drift and apathy has pervaded the global warming and renewable energy debate for too long. The fossil fuel companies continue to dig coal and pump oil and gas; herbivorous idealists, scientists and ecowarriors emit their ritual opposition. The carbon load forced into the atmosphere continues to rise, and the general public seems resigned.
But 2016 is the year this will really begin to change. Chris Goodall’s book is wonderfully up to date but,thanks to the pace of change, even he couldn’t support up with the avalanche of news and initiatives conspiring to justify his subtitle. In May, or Shell announced a major hotfoot into renewables; on 15 May Germany received almost all its electricity from renewables; for four days from 7 to 10 May Portugal did the same. Goodall,who is an economist rather than a technologist or ecowarrior, explains why the change is happening now: the cost of solar electricity is falling much faster than anyone predicted. Solar power is approaching parity with fossil fuels and can only become cheaper as time goes by.
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Source: theguardian.com