Forget Computers. Here Comes the Sun.

NY Times ^ | April 14, 2006 | JOHN MARKOFF

[Richard Kimball]

1.21 Gigawatts?!!!

[Maeve]

TJ's a fine fellow. I always listen to what he has to say. He has a vision worth buying into IMHO.

[Phsstpok]

We might move to a 6 year life cycle someday but, at this time, that's not a wise move in terms of Total Cost of Ownership. Increasingly you have mechanical failure on machines beyond year 3 and we've only negotiated a 4 year warranty on our PCs. The cost of 6 years maintenance is greater than the replacement costs by a long shot.

And that doesn't address the technological obsolescence problem. We had the single largest SAP system on the planet at one point and they, and many of our other IT partners, keep moving the ball in terms of requirements. It's getting better and we may be able to consider that in a couple of years, but right now our road map is pretty solidly documented and defensible.

This is what I do for a living.  I'm the client architect for a Fortune 100 company and control the technical aspect on the spend of millions of IT dollars every year on PC hardware and software.  I've done this for this company for over 20 years and have been in the PC busines, literally, since the first day pre-assembled PCs were ever sold.  In fact, myself and 3 other people unveiled and sold the first pre-built PC in the world at the First West Coast Computer Faire in San Jose in 1977.

I just made the call yesterday, for example, that we're not signing a Vista Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft for the next 3 years because we're not going to adopt Vista unless something that no one in the industry expects happens, and the odds a very high that it's the right decision and will save us several million dollars.  That's a good thing in the current corporate climate.

Of course, I'm playing with it now and will continue to play with it, and other things.  But my end users?  Not a chance.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

I hope he can make these cells more efficient, but there's a BIG problem: silicon is in short supply.

You should have put a sarcasm tag on that one, I thought you were series for about half a second.

[jiggyboy]

I've given up hooting that one down. http://www.homepower.com

[Myrddin]

There is also the issue of actual solar energy available per square meter. There are nice charts showing how many hours of sunshine one can expect at a given geographical location.

[Moonman62]

So a magazine geared toward granola crunchers is supposed to convince me otherwise? Photovoltaics are good for off grid applications, but their total energy savings isn't worth it. Technological improvements have been slow, but one day PV may be worthwhile.

Right now, solar concentrators are better economically. Of course, every form of energy we use that isn't nuclear or tidal is some form of solar energy. PV is at the bottom of the list for efficiency.

[Moonman62]

You don't usually read articles like this and encounter statements like the one above that refer to the kind of weed that you don't smoke.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions. T.J. Rodgers is a libertarian.

[Old Professer]

A matching 24 grid unit on the opposite slope (out of the picture) would allow for for most of the difference.

[Tanniker Smith]

You know, I never noticed that before: Lloyd says "jig-a-watts" twice, and then Fox asks "what's a gig-a-watt?"

Granted, I know pretty of people that don't agree on the pronounciation (regardless of which, if either or both, is correct), but if you're asking someone what the thing he just said is, you would think you would use the same pronounciation.

[mississippi red-neck]

You got great background and experience wasn't trying to tell you how to run your business just offering a suggestion to someone I thought might be seeking some ideas . Good luck ! MRN.