A Brighter Future for Solar Power

Solar energy, once a niche application for a limited market, has become the cheapest and fastest-growing power source on earth. What’s more, its potential is nearly limitless—every hour the sun beams down more energy than the world uses in a year. But in his new book "Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Save the Planet", Dr. Varun Sivaram, the Philip D. Reed fellow for Science and Technology at the Council on Foreign Relations, warns that the world is not yet equipped to harness erratic sunshine to meet most of its energy needs. If solar’s current surge peters out, prospects for replacing fossil fuels and averting catastrophic climate change will dim. Innovation can brighten those prospects, Dr. Sivaram argues. Financial innovation is already enticing deep-pocketed investors to fund solar projects around the world, from the sunniest deserts to the poorest villages. Technological innovation could replace today’s solar panels with coatings as cheap as paint and employ artificial photosynthesis to store intermittent sunshine as convenient fuels. Systemic innovation could add flexibility to the world’s power grids and other energy systems so they can dependably channel the sun’s unreliable energy. Unleashing all this innovation will require visionary public policy: funding researchers developing next-generation solar technologies, refashioning energy systems and economic markets, and putting together a diverse clean energy portfolio. How will companies and countries increase their efforts to make solar power a more consistent energy resource? What technological, financial, and systemic innovations need to happen so solar power can be a stored and used in the future? What are the greatest challenges to this industry?
SPEAKERS
Varun SivaramPhilip D. Reed Fellow for Science and Technology, Council on Foreign Relations