The Sun Will Be Our Savior
Jul 23rd, 2008 by msdanielle
This is Sharp’s commercial slogan in Japan — referring to how solar energy can and will provide all the energy needed for consumer daily life. I was immediately intrigued by the sound and visuals of the commercial’s ominous yet inspiring tone, my first reaction being, Do we need saving?
As someone who’s not a Sharp enthusiast, I didn’t even realize it was a Japanese company. Then to find out they’ve been developing solar cells since the ’50s and are now attempting to lead the charge into this new “clean energy era” was an eye-opener to say the least.
Unlike oil, coal or other fossil fuels, there is no danger of it running out. And it produces no CO2 emissions or other downside for the environment. In contrast to energy resources buried beneath the ground only in certain regions, solar energy can be found anywhere. And there is no need to transport or burn it.
I can’t argue anything that they’re attempting to do — harness the sun’s energy and produce emission-free electricity, reduce global degradation from traditional forms of energy generation, create global awareness of the benefits of solar energy and its impact on energy production. I’m just not sure if / when this perspective would ever be adopted by the United States. It’s a complete understatement to say that “we use a lot of energy.”
But as ominous as it sounds at first thought, will we inevitably be looking to the sun to be our savior? I mean, the bigger picture, saving the earth. Because that’s what Sharp is claiming: “Convinced that the sun will save the earth, today and in the future, Sharp aims for the dissemination of solar energy systems as part of our corporate objective of minimizing the burden on the global environment.”
It’s not a far stretch to say that the sun currently is our “savior.” Without it there is no plant life, no food, no anything. The world wouldn’t exist as we know it and for the most part we take it for granted that the sun rises each day. And the reality is that in 2010 Sharp will be operating a solar energy manufacturing complex that will generate energy for hundreds of thousands of homes, harnessing this power on a massively large scale. I only wonder what it would take for the world to follow. This is huge food for thought, and I’ve only scratched the surface.
What do you think of Sharp’s initiative? Check out their site (link below) to see what they’re doing. I’d like to hear your thoughts.
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I think my first reaction is that the song used on the website for the intro is horrible. But it’s interesting to see the ambitious use of solar power on a massive scale and not just to make my pool warm enough to keep my junk from going all turtle on me. Because up until now, I’ve always thought Solar was not viable for large scale energy consumption. Sure, the lights on your walkway will be plenty bright to guide tricker treaters, but powering a city? But having done some music (good music
!) for a solar panel fabrication plant called recently, I have become more aware that the new solar panel technology is quite a bit more advanced, as is the possible integrattion into all structures in the future.
I’d like to think these technologies have really taken this much time to figure out, but I think we could have and should have been doing this a long time ago.
sharp makes it seem like this is a viable global solution, within reach of only a few years. i agree that these technologies shoulda-woulda-coulda come out earlier, but there are interests against it. i did see however, see lots of houses in japan that had solar panels on their roofs. makes me wonder what type of power they’re getting from that, and what it costs. (not the whole roof, just partial)
Solar Panel manufacturing is complimentary to LCD manufacturing. Since SHARP is one of the leaders in LCD manufacturing, it makes sense that they too lead in this industry. Many of Taiwan’s largest LCD panel manufacturers have started converting many of their older gen plants into solar panel manufacturing plants to feed the need for this technology. The only issue with Photovoltaic technology is efficiency. Some of the prototype panels that I saw in Taiwan for consumer application were putting out efficiency numbers of less than 20%. That means you need a lot of them and a lot of space depending on application. I’d imagine that the SHARP solar facility isn’t tiny. OTOH, as the efficiency increases, so will the capacity of said plants. I’m sure that one day a smaller patch of panels (that isn’t your whole roof) could power an individual home and either take you off the grid, or at least do it while the sun is shining.
yes it seems we’ll have to wait until the efficiency reaches a threshold where mass scale is viable. the topic reminds me of the one episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition where they built the wind-powered and solar-powered generators for the house, and the overage of power would be put back into the community for other houses to use. there are so many possibilities, they just have to be embraced worldwide.
I think it is a sharp idea. I also think they should consider using “And the Moon is our second savior”… I mean, what would we do at night? I like the moon.
Considering that your website is being powered on solar energy, I think that many US companies are already adopting solar power. It is consumer conscious acts that cause the demand for more solar powered alternatives. Toyota is developing a solar-assisted Prius, that should be interesting.
I do think that solar energy is the wave of the future, it’s still a buzzword now but its gaining serious momentum. Several US colleges and corporations are already deploying solar arrays.
i’m hoping the momentum will steer toward larger scale use in the near future, beyond corporate use of solar energy. i’m not sure what you mean by my website is being powered on solar energy. i wasn’t aware of this, so if you have a link to share please feel free to drop it here
thanks brandon!
btw, i’m no longer having the issue with the admin panel lagging
Oh yes, your host, iMountain.com is a solar powered web hosting company. Heheh, you have a “Green” blog.
http://imountain.com/blog/category/environment/solarpanels
The new racks are also filled with solar panels but pictures haven’t been put up yet.
I’m not too up-to-date on advancements in that field and who the major players are or whatnot, I do however think that solar power is a good idea. If not for the world’s primary source, at least as a secondary or backup source.
Just think if everyone had a solar panel or two on the top of their house…it might not produce all the power they use, but it would certainly make a difference.
If only people were pushed enough to the wall they would find a way to make solar energy more effective as a fuel solution. I guess the final push will come only when the fossil fuels are all over.