In just a few short years, solar power has gone from a little engine that could to an unstoppable juggernaut in energy production. It is now an undeniable fact that the future of energy will rest solidly on solar-power generation.
Don’t take this writer’s word for it. Just ask one of the world’s largest oil companies, which readily admits solar energy could overtake oil as an energy source as soon as the year 2060. Shell Global recently predicted a vastly different landscape in energy production. The company predicts 40 percent of worldwide energy will come from solar power and other renewable energy technologies. This must have been a humbling pill for this gargantuan oil producer to swallow, as Shell stopped investing in renewable energy technology in 2009. The company opted instead to develop biofuels.
Yet Shell deserves some credit for the company’s foresight in conducting such a controversial study in the first place. In an article published in the Financial Post, Jeremy Bentham, the lead developer of the Shell Oil Scenario Team, said he believes the environmental movement will exercise a bigger role in urging adoption of renewable energy. He also believes hydrocarbons will continue to play a central role in energy production for a long time to come.
This acknowledgement of the growing clout of solar-energy proponents, coupled with the staggering proliferation of solar technology and production, points to an optimistic future.
As solar energy inevitability assumes a greater role in our daily lives, it does beg the question: What sort of changes will we see in solar-power generation? That’s a difficult question, but the answer will be forthcoming sooner rather than later, as sun-power advocates are pointing in the right direction: Upward.