The Solar Fraud: Why Solar Energy Won't Run the World, ... (ISBN 0971484546)

don't bother:
The Solar Fraud: Why Solar Energy Won't Run the World, Second Edition I found this book to be an utter triple waste. A waste of money buying it; a waste of time reading it; and waste of paper (and trees) printing it. Mr. Hayden offers nothing but quibbling, carping, and criticism; no valid solutions whatsoever for the energy predicament in which we find ourselves. If I could give this book zero stars, or a negative number of them, I would.

This book is Out of Date and Wrong:
First of all, there is plenty of daytime solar and nighttime wind energy to meet our national and global energy needs. Check out Scientific American, January 2008 issue, which says 69% of US energy needs can be met by solar by 2050. Secondly, this was written before First Solar is now at $1.14 cost of production per watt with 10.6% solar efficiency (source - latest First Solar conference call). First Solar expects grid parity by 2012! This book, in my opinion, is poorly written and a waste of time. Thank you.

Hard Science, Clearly Delivered:
This book is much the best introduction to solar energy's prospects and possibilities. It makes the science easy, and puts the politics of solar energy firmly in the context of the physics of the possible. A highly recommended guide for anyone considering a solar project, and also a superb guide for those who seek to influence or to understand energy policy.

solar is what you make it:
I run my entire home on solar energy. U use passive solar like shade, solar thermal like my solar hot water system and active solar PV electric panels. I even get credit back from my utility each month. This author doesn't want to learn how to use all the forms of solar. He is just an engineer stuck on one point. He should add up all the incentive we now pay to big oil, fossil fuel and nuclear. Take all that away and solar is pure gold. It uses not water, creates no pollution and puts out the most during the peak hours of the day when we use it the most. He needs to remove his pocket protector and get all the facts.

Don't bother:
I bought this book to see if it had any new information regarding solar power - I was hoping for a reasoned discourse on why solar power faced insurmountable technical or other challenges. Instead it was a one sided discussion of the very old and tired about how solar would never scale and was to expensive. It made no mention of the incredible progress being made in solar costs - how solar is already cost competitive with peak power in many sunny places and how the rise in fuel/power prices was likely to make breakeven come sooner. I found this book to have no useful insights at all.