Introduction
In the last fifteen years, energy demand has grown ten times and the cost of energy has increased four times. Blackout and brownout conditions have occurred in United States and other countries and could continue as energy demand increases and energy generation fails to keep up. According to a recent report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp., electricity demand in the U.S. alone is expected to grow by 141,000 megawatts in the next decade while only 57,000 megawatts of new resources have been identified. This leaves a shortfall of 84,000 megawatts, an amount equivalent to 160 large power plants. Making electricity (much of it power lighting applications) creates 37% of all greenhouse gases, according to the United States Energy Information Administration. Hence, we should start looking at alternative energy resources, such as solar power, which is a green technology and does not cost as much as hydroelectric, geothermal or nuclear energy generation.
