Source 25: New solar technology

Breakthrough for harnessing solar power (alternative-energy-news.info, 7/24/08)

Summary:

This is a video that gives a detailed description of a new technology created by a company called Bright Source Energy that can harness solar energy in what the company believes is a more cost effective way than conventional solar devices. 

Topic:

Should the Obama administration allocate large amounts of money ($150 billion) in this time of economic crisis to alternative energy sources?

Category:

Institution- business

What is it?

This is a multimedia video that advertises a new solar technology.

Author:

Bright Source Energy

Accessed:

3/2/09

Support:

Bright Source Energy

The video displays how a new technology developed by Bright Source Energy works.  It also has graphs with statistical data that shows the energy that is expected to be generated by upcoming projects using this technology, however; it does not state a source for them.

Audience and Agenda:

This video was found on alternative-energy-news.info which is a website that brings together stories from all sorts of other sources about new alternative energy technologies.  The website is accessed by approximately 48,000 people per month.  Bright Source Energy is a company that builds large scale solar plants.  It is a privately owned company with many large investors including Google, BP and Chevron.  The video has 4,049 hits on youtube.com.  Bright Source is located in Oakland, California.

Usefulness:

This video is an example of a new technology that could possibly make solar power an economically viable alternative to fossil fuels.  It shows that these new technologies are constantly evolving and, with the right amount of investment, will continue to grow.  It gives statistical data about the amount of power that some of the projects on the horizon for the company will generate using this new technology.  The fact that so many big named companies are investing in this project tells us that there must have been some research done.  This source is very detailed about the process of how the energy is created and the visual element helps to make it that much more accessible.  It is easy to see that this technology is a whole new way of looking at capturing the true potential of solar energy.  One problem that it does not addressed  is how to incorperate these solar power plants into the existing energy grid.  This will need to be addressed in the future if the company expects to follow through on its plan to power 25% of California.  It also does not address the problem of how it will store the energy for nightime use and cloudy or overcast days.

Works Cited:

About alternative-energy-news.info:

http://www.quantcast.com/alternative-energy-news.info

About Bright Source Energy:

http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/about.htm

The video on youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0phPIzY7DPA&eurl=http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/