Solar power

Solar power could be meeting the planet’s energy needs in twenty years, says famed inventor and futurologist Ray Kurzweil, the author of the books ‘The Singularity Is Near’ and ‘The Age of Intelligent Machines’. He’s also worked on the solar energy solution with Google Co-Founder Larry Page as part of a panel of experts convened by the National Association of Engineers to address the 14 “grand challenges of the 21st century,” including making solar energy more economical.

Speaking to Live Science, Kurzweil applies the Law of Accelerating Returns to explain his theory:

The reason why solar energy technologies will advance exponentially, Kurzweil said, is because it is an “information technology” (one for which we can measure the information content), and thereby subject to the Law of Accelerating Returns.

“We also see an exponential progression in the use of solar energy,” he said. “It is doubling now every two years. Doubling every two years means multiplying by 1,000 in 20 years. At that rate we’ll meet 100 percent of our energy needs in 20 years.”

Conversely, Jonathan Weber, writing for the London Times from a policy and economic point of view, sees the cheapness of coal, for the time being at least, as an impediment to the advance of solar power, keeping it as the technology “that’s just around the corner”.

Alternative Energy