The following report posted on The Energy Blog was interesting to me first because it explains in simple terms (the ones I need) how a Stirling system works to convert sunlight to electrical power and secondly because it indicates one potentially viable direction that concentrating solar may take.   I firmly believe that in the end we will come to depend on electrical power for virtually every need and it will be generated to a very great degree from sunlight.

Here is is the report:
February 15, 2008
Sandia, Stirling Energy Systems Set New …

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I’ve reported on new CSP plants that are planned for construction in the desert, but the information below from the New York Times in a 2/1/2008, an article titled, "A Green Energy Industry Takes Root in California" was news to me. I suspect the future of electrical generation will include a very large dose of small to medium sized CSP plants built fairly close to the customer base so as to reduce distribution costs and losses of power.   This seems like an example.  "In 2007, 100 megawatts …

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Here is information courtesy of The Energy Blog on a cheap, simple way to create electricity from waves.  It has few moving parts or electrical connections to shore that could be maintenance problems.   It could cost under 4 cents per kilowatt hour.   The problem I see is that it would require both offshore and shorefront real estate.  Thus, it may not be economically or politically feasible in areas with high shoreline property values.  It may be primarily useful in developing countries. 

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