Continuous Improvement

One of the principles of the build-out of solarNetwork.net is the idea that each solarNode that gets added is a generation ahead of the year before. Efficiencies will go up, feature sets will multiply, choice of products will increase as competition increases, and costs will fall as brands consolidate. So the same money spent next year will get you a much better solarNode, while the devices you'd like to run in your house - independent of anything to do with solar energy - are going to get more and more efficient. And in terms of energy, there's really plenty of it. According to a world expert in solar power, Dr. Zahedi of Monash University, more energy falls to the earth's surface in the form of solar energy in one hour than is used by all the oil consumed by the entire world's population for a year. We may not be able to catch it all now, but we're going to be catching a lot more of it soon. When you step back and think about it, look at all the examples of living things that depend on the sun - it's kind of a completely natural expectation. We humans just have to get with the program. It's time to look up!

So when you think about those two 10% efficient 80W panels, the deep cycle batteries from the old golf cart, and the cheap inverter - don't be discouraged.

Just think: science fiction, by definition, is partly real.