Solar Power Can Ease Global Warming, New Research Shows

[jpak]

http://www.gnet.org/news/newsdetail.cfm?Page=1&NewsID=34698

ARGONNE, Ill., Mar. 8, 2007 -- Solar energy has the power to reduce greenhouse gases and provide increased energy efficiency, says a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, in a reportpublished in the March issue of Physics Today.

Last month, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of the United Nations released a report confirming global warming is upon us and attributing the growing threat to the man-made burning of fossil fuels.

Opportunities to increase solar energy conversion as an alternative to fossil fuels are addressed in the Physics Today article, co-authored by George Crabtree, senior scientist and director of Argonne's Materials Science Division, and Nathan Lewis, professor of Chemistry at Caltech and director of its Molecular Materials Research Center.

Currently, between 80 percent and 85 percent of our energy comes from fossil fuels. However, fossil fuel resources are of finite extent and are distributed unevenly beneath Earth's surface. When fossil fuel is turned into useful energy through combustion, it often produces environmental pollutants that are harmful to human health and greenhouse gases that threaten the global climate. In contrast, solar resources are widely available and have a benign effect on the environment and climate, making it an appealing alternative energy source.

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[kestrel91316]

1. Well, DUH. Hey, guys, instead of wasting money on this friggin'

report that's the equivalent of saying that yes, the sun DOES reliably rise in the east every 24 hours, why don't you spend it on actually developing alternatives to fossil fuels?

[Shallah Kali]

2. Or use the $ to slap some of them there solar panels on the university?

?

[RestoreGore]

3. Yes, it does, so let's start cranking out the panels...

because our planet is in a state of emergency right now. How many reports do we need to tell us that?