Where we need to be

In the future, nearly every home and business should have a solar thermal system on its roof providing at least hot water, if not space heating as well. We will hopefully see people realize that much of their heating costs can be offset by installing a relatively inexpensive system to harness some of the sun's energy as we have been doing for millennia. This should be the primary focus of solar energy.

In addition, CSP should likely to a focus so that there is a way to make electricity on a large scale using solar energy. It is currently a bit expensive, but consists mostly of mirrors, pipes, and turbines, and so is a clean and simple source of large amounts of energy. There are plants popping up all over the world, but this is something that should be up there with wind energy as far as large energy sources.

As far as photovoltaics go, we need to work to reduce costs and get more thin films out on the market so that there are more options than those big blue panels. The biggest issue with these systems is cost and the fact that it's better in the big picture to focus on utility-scale projects that will deliver clean energy to thousands of people. So while there is a place in the future for these systems, they are likely to remain only one of many parts of our future solar landscape.

Solar is not likely to provide the majority of the electricity we need, but could easily be a large part of a comprehensive energy portfolio. It can also a way of reducing energy we need by providing hot water heating and some space heating as well as by reducing needs through passive systems, which you can learn about on the Your Thermostat section.