Should solar power be the dominant energy-source of the 21st century?

No, Let's rely on the middle east oil, Thank God US is dealing with a terrorist country like Saudi Arabia!

Yes. Solar power is the basis of life on this planet And, as it turns out, photovoltaic cells are actually more efficient converting light into energy than is photosynthesis.

loti (laugh on the inside), yeah… the sun already is the dominant energy source… our work days live and die by it. but, no, i don't think we should make anything the dominant form of anything… haven't we learned our lesson from oil? it can be one solution in many, but i don't think it should be THE solution.

I think wind and water power would be better!

Solar, wind, geothermal, and other sources will eventually become the main sources of power but that will still take a while.

In places where it's sunny. I'm in the midwest area of the US and here wind energy is becoming bigger and bigger.

It is absurdly expensive. Let's drill off-shore, ANWR, in our own backyard. And to look to the future, I think nuclear would be the way to go instead of wind and solar.

Well, its a technology problem. The fact is that at this point, it takes more energy to create the solar panels than their operation saves us over their operational life.

Someday that balance may shift, but for now, solar power isn't anywhere near adequate for the world's power needs.

I do think we need to move away from fossil fuels for electricity production and employ more nuclear, geothermal and hydroelectric solutions.

Yeah, great utopian thought but the only problem is nobody has invented the technology yet to make it feasible.

Try running your Prius on a solar panel and tell me how well it works.

On one condition….

Millions of people and businesses, already have roofs that panels can be mounted to, instead of clearing millions of acres of land for big energy to get another handout.

…If the government chooses to subsidize the implementation of solar energy, they shouldn't do so utilizing existing big energy companies.

The tax code should allow credits to install solar or wind on homes and businesses. There ARE great products out there, but they are in the small mom-in-pop start-up stages. More buyers will bring the needed influx of cash to the good products; offering competition, increasing technology, and lowering cost.

Having a "dominant" energy source policy is short-sighted, in my opinion. Putting all your eggs in one basket is not a good policy economically or politically.

I think the best thing to do is to pursue all clean renewable energy sources, and eventually the most cost-efficient technology will be naturally adopted by a particular locality.

Solar may not be the best resource, for example, at latitudes that get long periods of darkness. Geothermal energy may be cheap and abundant in some areas, making the harnessing of it generate a smaller and more efficient footprint than a commercial solar array in the same spot. Wind tower arrays in predominantly breezy and overcast areas (San Francisco comes to mind -brrr!) may be the best choice for that locality.

Reliance on fossil fuels is yesterday's idea, and we must phase them out for a wide variety of compelling reasons. But global reliance on a single technology is not wise in any scenario, so I say go solar, go wind, go geothermal, go hydro!