Teaching Kids About Rapid Advancements in Solar Technology

Today I had the opportunity to speak with Holocene’s  CEO, Ralph Thompson. We talked about the evolution of solar as a  technology and as an industry. Here is an industry that has always shown  promise, and yet had one major obstacle that seemed to crush all hopes  of it ever becoming the dominant energy source. It was impossible to use  solar energy as a replacement for fossil fuels. 

Energy from the Sun is  plentiful, and free, unlike fossil fuels. However, electricity  generation from solar energy requires direct sun light, meaning you  can’t get power if it’s cloudy, or bad weather, or night. The answer, of  course, was to create some sort of energy storage solution, or  batteries, so we can create energy when the Sun is shining, and use it  when we actually need it. But this was an obstacle that for years seemed  insurmountable, until all of a sudden, it wasn’t.