Solar Power Growth Outspaces Wind Energy

http://www.elp.com/articles/2013/09/solar-power-s-growth-outpaces-wind-energy.html

 Solar power is outpacing wind power for the first time ever. The U.S. and China have the two largest wind markets in the world. Globally, demand for wind turbines is predicted to shrink by 5 percent this year, for the first time since 2004.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this article. Both wind and solar power are great natural ways to produce electricity. It has to be cheaper to build solar panels rather than huge wind turbines so I can see why solar energy is becoming more popular than wind energy.

New Solar Project in Arizona

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/business/energy-environment/arizona-utility-tries-storing-solar-energy-for-use-in-the-dark.html?_r=0

A new solar energy project named Solana stretches 3 square miles in a patch of desert about 50 miles southwest of Phoenix. A network of parabolic mirrors focus the sun's energy on black painted pipes. These black pipes carry the heat to huge tanks of molten salt. When the sun sets, the plant draws heat back out of the molten salt to continue making steam and electricity. The emerging technology is one way that the utility industry is trying to make electricity from the sun available even when it is not shining, overcoming one of the major shortcomings of solar power.

I think this new project solar energy project is awesome. I like the idea of using solar energy because it may be expensive to build all the solar panels at first, but in the long run it pays itself off and can even save you money. The sun is an unlimited resource and it will never go away so why not take full advantage of the energy and electricity it can provide us with?