Introduction

In the past couple of decades, solar power as well as sustainable energy system deployment have been misunderstood and largely dismissed as viable sources of sustainable energy. More specifically, the valuation of solar power system technology as a viable source of clean energy has in some instances been hampered, mainly by a lack of appreciation of the technology’s impact on the national and global economy and its significant long-term benefits to human welfare and global ecology.

When considering the trade-off of inexpensive power generated by coal and other fossil fuels versus degradation of the ecosystem, which is essential to the sustenance of human and animal life, we must also measure the costs of sustainable energy and its significance in relation to the survival of life itself.

Unfortunately, competing business interests and market forces have recently flooded the news and television media with negative opinions and notions in regard to the viability of sustainable energy systems. These reports are frequently inaccurate and wholly misrepresentative of technologies that hold great promise for significant long-term benefits to the global ecology and economy. As a result, alternative energy systems, and more specifically solar power technologies, have been dismissed and labeled as expensive and inefficient solutions unable to meet the ever-increasing demand for global energy. Yet coal-fired electrical energy advertisements have taken center stage and have been branded as “clean energy” that could solve today’s and tomorrow’s world energy shortcomings.