Comparing solar schemes

Current solar energy drawbacks

Its inefficient Photovoltaic panels collect less than 20 percent of the suns energy that hits them; higher temperature solar thermal power plants radiate away most of the energy collected Its costly to store Rooftop panels can store energy in lead acid batteries that are expensive; solar power plants that use concentrating mirrors can store energy in molten salt for 4 to 12 hours The weather varies Most thermal solar power plants are being built in the sunny Southwest but are not economically viable even with government subsidies Cost of solar panels Those who buy solar voltaic panels recover cost in about 15 years, roughly the life of the panels, with the help of tax subsidies Cost of solar thermal power Plants with energy from mirror fields produce energy at 15 to 18 cents per kilowatt hour, triple the cost of coal Panels take up space Photovoltaic panels would have to cover the entire state of Utah to power the U.S.; there arent enough rooftops

Conventional solar energy has several major disadvantages. How Solar Trap technology would address these problems, according to its inventor, Ronald Ace:

Solar Trap solutions

It is nearly 100 percent efficient; it absorbs nearly all the solar energy that hits it and contains radiation loss to a small percentage High-temperature rooftop solar traps could capture enough energy for economical storage in cheap materials (such as sand) for as long as needed; the same is true with solar power plants equipped with mirror arrays Solar Traps can be mounted on rooftops or used in solar thermal energy plants in most climates, though cost will rise in cloudier regions Traps cost can be recouped in two to four years, partly by selling excess energy to utilities; then buyers would be able to power homes for free Conventional power plants (nuclear-, coal- and gaspowered) can be retrofitted with Solar Traps; electricity would cost about 2 cents per kilowatt hour

Solar Traps could power the country if they covered all existing rooftops
Graphic: Judy Treible, Robert Dorrell 2013 MCT

Source: Ronald Ace, U.S. Department of Energy, McClatchy Washington Bureau