Solar industry employs 373,000 American, 2.8 million globally – Solar power will continue to gain political strength across the nation as we see serious installation volumes spread to all 50 states. Already solar power lobbyists are able to wield great influence – see the 2015 tax credit extension. The energy industry, in 2016, represented 14% of all new jobs in the USA – a large amount of those coming from renewable and efficiency.
Autonomous solar powered research ship being designed – We’ve got an airplane that circled the world on solar, islands that live off of solar and now an autonomous ocean research vessels to be powered by solar. Scientists are real good at designing instruments that work off of light amounts of energy – a lot of times those restrictions have to do with large amounts of fuel needing to be on the same vessels. […]
The link to the full article has been updated.
The dinosaur fuel industry can posture all they wish, but cost is going to drive this train and solar is turning the tide. Autonomous solar powered ships will revolutionize shipping efficiency & cost..much like drone delivery will radically alter the retail delivery business. I still prefer to see decentralization & localized production of food and goods (3d printing).