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Determine the best sources of energy for the future

Worldly energy demand continues to increase also for the fast industrial and economic development of China and India, but oil, coal and nuclear energy will not be able to satisfy it because too polluting and dangerous for our environment and because oil is going to run out within few decades or becoming too rare or expensive to be extracted.

Nuclear energy doesn't use any combustion, but it's particularly dangerous for its radioactive wastes that should be stored in safety for thousands of years before their decay in sites extremely difficult to choose (people don't want a nuclear wastes site near their own houses) and for the great building and safety costs of nuclear plants, very high already today that nuclear energy provides about 10% of the energy consumed in the world.

For these reasons, our economy and civilization will have a future only if we immediately start to massively invest in the clean and renewable energy sources like solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and bio-gas.
All these sources can be exploited altogether to satisfy all the energy needs of the world, especially if the energy demand of an increasing worldly population will keep on growing.

- Solar energy -

Today, solar panels convert sunlight into electric power, exploiting the potential difference among n and p-layers of silicon (Si) semi-conductors, able to provide an electric circuit with electric charges. We can place solar panels today on wide surfaces like on the roofs of our houses, of hotels, public buildings, hospitals, schools and industrial plants.

Moreover, we can also exploit deserts to cover many Km2 with solar panels (given the intense and rather constant sunlight during the year) to get big amounts of energy.
Their disadvantage is that solar panels can't concentrate solar energy and must cover relatively wide areas for a massive use of this energy source.

A good solution for this problem is solar energy focusing; solar energy is concentrated by parabolic mirrors on a container or tubing containing a molten salt that can be heated at 200-300 C or more.
This fluid can heat water to generate only hot water for houses heating or steam that can make work turbines and generate electric energy.

Alternatively, we can replace the molten salt fluid with water to produce steam for turbines or by high-efficient solar panels on a restricted area.
These plants cover minor areas and are more powerful; various examples are already working in the world, like in Spain, Germany and California, for


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