SOLAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTIOI Many are convinced that solar energy could provide nearly unlimited amounts of energy to meet all conceivable future global needs. Efforts are being made here and in other countries to develop solar technologies for a wide range of distributed and centralized applications with operational control by individuals, communities, or organizational entities. These applications involve “soft” technologies, which are assumed to have the least impact on the environment, to be capable of failing gracefully, and to be able to serve diverse needs with minimal intervention by industrial or governmental organizations, and “hard” technologies defined by their opponents as large, complex, capital intensive systems with potential dangers to the environment in case of accident and with impersonal remote control by large and unresponsive organizations unreachable by individuals or small groups. The divergence in views on “soft” and “hard” technologies is brought into sharp focus when contrasting distributed solar energy applications — where solar energy is converted into heat (water and space heating), fuels (bioconversion), or electricity (thermal, wind, and photovoltaic conversion; small-scale hydroelectricity) — with centralized technologies, including large-scale solar technologies. Although solar technology development is focusing on near-term commercializable applications, such as water heaters, passive heating, industrial process heat, biomass, and wind conversion, there are several programs to develop “hard” solar technologies for power generation on a utility scale, including hydroelectric power, solar thermal conversion for central receivers, ocean thermal energy conversion, and solar power satellites. There is a difference in the contribution of these technologies, which clearly underlines the interrelationships between energy and social and economic factors. Although technology when not applied is neutral, application of a specific technology is closely related to social circumstances. Difficulties arise because solutions to the vexing energy problems will vary for different countries, and even for different regions of a single country, and for urban and rural areas. Advocates of either “soft” or “hard” technology solutions to energy problems tend to offer either one or the other as “the” solution, rather than delineating which of the energy problems could best be solved with the most appropriate technology. Although it is likely that each country will approach solutions to its energy problems in ways which will tend to optimize economic and societal objectives, the concept should be considered in the light of a coherent global energy strategy, based on a consensus of global development objectives and basic ground rules of humanity and equity. Industrial countries may have to consider the coexistence of “soft” and “hard” technologies. After suitable conservation measures have been adopted, large population centers and industries will still require utility-supplied power to make the most effective use of distributed solar applications. Third World countries view technology as a catalyst to help them achieve the aspirations of their society, and they look at the energy problem in the context of social changes which will have a positive effect on their life styles. APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS The interest of Third World countries in renewable resources, particularly solar energy applications, is understandable because solar energy is readily available to
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