Is it because we don't have the technology or the money
You can use solar power for machines. Cars can run off solar power. Everything can run off solar power it is the cost that stops everyone from converting over. Another note the efficiency of producing solar energy is low; not fast enough for the worlds' consumption rate. Plus, the size of the solar panel arrays would be enormous. We use more than what we can produce.
I don't see why people don't convert over to battery operated vehicles. We have remote control vehicles that run off batteries why not drivable versions? I plan to convert a small car over to batteries with a few solar panels on top. I just need to find a cheap motor to put in the engine compartment. All I need to do is drive 30 miles round trip to and from work. During the day while it sits outside the batteries will charge. Then I drive home plug it in and repeat the next day.
I calculated that I would use about 1800 watts one way. I would need a battery bank to sustain that amount for at least 2 hours. This system will cost about $6k but will save me $4 per day which comes out to $960 per year. In 7 years it would pay for itself. Though by then I will need to add new batteries on the 5th year which will come out to $3,600. The motor will probably need to be refurbished or replaced as well. The panels will last at least 25 years but the wattage output would decrease over time. So pretty much you'd have to replace the system every 5 years just like most cars now days.
Well a lot more work needs to be done yet, I mean the sun doesn't shine 24hrs a day, we have to work out how to store it.
The private sector with the money to invest won't as long as they can still make money from proven quick return fossil fuels, The Government is much more interested in carbon taxes and climate change funding, they do not have foresight.
In the 1960's liquid flouride thoriam nuclear reactor was invented, but president Nixon shut it down because it didn't produce nuclear weapons, that is the kind of foresight our politicians have (we could all have cheap safe nuclear electricity by now)
We do. Fossil fuels are chemically stored solar energy collected by photosynthesis millions of years ago. The problem is that we're using a reserve that nature built far faster than the rate at which it's accumulated instead of synthesizing it ourselves which we've known how to do on industrial scales since the 1920's, it's just more profitable taking nature's supply.
Finding a replacement for automotive / aviation fuel is going to be tricky.
If you think of the range of the average electric car, it is not great, plus it takes time to charge them up.
There are solar powered machines out there though!
http://images.businessweek.com/slideshow...
because they provide direct current and thus have low voltage and obviously it will not be able to keep up for the heavy machines
Like what if we ran out of oil? Can't we use solar energy to power the cars and other things?
Is it because we don't have the technology or the money
