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Future Sunny for Solar Power

Tech leap will enable replacement of fossil fuels in 20 years: panel

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 20, 2008 1:26 PM CST

(Newser) – Don’t sweat the energy crisis, say scientist Ray Kurzweil and Google co-founder Larry Page, who predict that within 20 years we’ll be getting 100% of our energy from the sun, based on current solar technology and growth trends. Kurzweil’s fortune-telling record is pretty good: He foresaw the fall of the Soviet Union, and the Internet revolution, too, LiveScience reports.

Page, for his part, has put money on his convictions; Google is deeply invested in budding solar technologies, like nano-engineered panels and fuel cells. Much of the technology is in place, the two argue, and the power is there to be had. The sun provides 10,000 times more energy than we need to completely power the planet.

[Images (4)]

[Videos (2)]

A solar thermal power electric power plant in Sanlucar La Mayor on February 13, 2008. The plant works by using sunlight to generate heat. To generate this intense heat arrays of reflective mirrors are... (Getty Images)

Ray Kurzweil speaks on 'Singularity' during the RAS Conference 2007 in San Francisco, 07 February 2007. The noted futurist's latest prediction suggests that in 20 years, solar power will run the planet.... (Getty Images)

Kurzweil, author of "The Singularity Is Near" and "The Age of Intelligent Machines," has already lent his expertise to making solar power more effective and economically viable, predicting it will be... (Shutterstock.com)

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Ray Kurzweil (pt1of3) The Singularity Summit at Stanford (dougwolens (YouTube))

Ray Kurzweil on "I've Got a Secret" (Sidewinder77 (YouTube))

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Future Sunny for Solar Power