There’s a hearing on solar power today in the House Science Committee. Sounds like they’re focusing on concentrating solar power and thermal storage — smart.
Note this:
[Subcommittee on Energy and Environment Vice-Chair] Rep. [Gabrielle] Giffords expects to soon introduce "The Solar Energy Research and Advancement Act of 2007" to address issues in solar research, education, and training not covered by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. These include a research and development program on thermal energy storage technologies for concentrating solar power, a study to determine the necessary steps to integrate concentrating solar power plants with the regional and national electric grid, a study to reduce the amount of water consumed by concentrating solar power systems, and a program to ensure that a sufficient number of people are properly trained to install and maintain solar energy equipment, and the establishment of a "solar check-off program", similar to such programs for the beef and dairy industries, which pools funds from the private sector for the research and promotion of the solar power industry as a whole.
Cool.
