Solar research needs its own Apollo mission

“One thing is guaranteed to solve it: technological advance,” write King and Layard, who say the response must be similar to the coordinated efforts which put man on the moon and built the atomic bomb. “The Manhattan and Apollo projects engaged the best minds of their ages from a few nations. But today the effort needs to be international.”

The authors envisage all G20 countries joining in a massive research project that would aim to enable bulk electricity to be produced more cheaply by solar energy than by any fossil fuel. The participation of the US and China would be essential to provide leadership in this endeavour, with a 2025 target date for the plan.

“By then we should expect to see bulk solar electricity supplied commercially at an unsubsidised price on a 24-hour basis,” write King and Layard. “A good target for then would be at least 1 gigawatt supplied to cities in America, Europe and Asia.”

The challenges scientists face in achieving this goal include how to better collect the solar energy and then efficiently store it and distribute it over wide distances.

“Storage is the most difficult challenge,” say the authors. “Breakthroughs in the basic science of batteries are necessary. They are, however, feasible.”

According to King, there is a good economic case to invest in solar energy. He says that historically solar cell prices have dropped by 20% for every doubling of industrial capacity, and that installation costs are falling rapidly as well.

“The collection of solar energy by photovoltaic cells becomes cheaper every day and is already nearly economic in sun-rich environments. The cost of electricity distribution is also falling by the day.”

King and Layard suggest that a scientific project of this magnitude could be paid for through carbon taxes and by diverting current national R&D energy expenditure. “Would some switch of research effort be that awful? Shouldn’t the world’s greatest problem have the first call on our research money? And shouldn’t it attract the best minds?

“This is a far more important issue than putting a man on the moon. It should attract as much attention – and, this time, the attention of every nation. Failure to solve this problem will affect every nation upon earth.”