My IMPRESSION without good data is that yes, solar energy is a much better alternative to fossil fuels. Fossil fuels never stop polluting. With solar the process is one time and then it produces energy for 25 to 30 years. Then the Si can be recycled. The problem in solar is the processing and refining of the silicon. This takes a lot of energy which often comes from fossil fuel burning power plants or burning fossil fuels directly in the processing plants. To ELIMINATE this problem it is obvious to me that the Si plant should be located next to large solar / wind / ocean tidal fields. Electric power can be used to generate the high temperatures needed to do this. Phase change solar can generate the high temperatures directly with no energy conversion losses from solar to electric power. A plan like this could move Si processing back to the US where I think it started to begin with.

The plant could operate 24/7 if it included wind and tidal power which is available and productive when the sun is not. There are companies like Sumitomo (Japan) that are capable of doing this completely and they are actively looking for US energy projects.

I also have a plan to be able to use the mothballed fossil fuel power plants for clean energy if anyone is interested, just ask.

Dr Peter Kaufman thank you for your contribution to the discussion

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