ENERGY PAYBACKS AND RENEWABLE BREEDERS

The feasibility of using renewable energy technologies to displace fossil fuels and mitigate global warming depends on the possibility of developing solar breeders. A solar breeder can be either a conceptual tool for analyzing any energy source or a physical plant to demonstrate the viability of renewable energy. The mathematics of breeders is discussed, and problems with previously used equations are demonstrated. The status of currently available renewable energy technologies is reviewed, and the importance of better information and of physical-breeder demonstrations is discussed.