Taming The Sun

How solar could spark a clean‐energy transition through transformative innovation—creativefinancing, revolutionary technologies and flexible energy systems.Solar energy, once a niche application for a limited market, has become the cheapest and fastest‐growingpower source on earth. Whats more, its potential is nearly limitless—every hour the sun beams down moreenergy than the world uses in a year. But in Taming the Sun, energy expert Varun Sivaram warns that theworld is not yet equipped to harness erratic sunshine to meet most of its energy needs. And if solars currentsurge peters out, prospects for replacing fossil fuels and averting catastrophic climate change will dim. innovation can brighten those prospects, Sivaram explains, drawing on first-hand experience and originalresearch spanning science, business and government. Financial innovation is already enticing deep pocketedinvestors to fund solar projects around the world, from the sunniest deserts to the poorestvillages. Technological innovation could replace todays solar panels with coatings as cheap as paint andemploy artificial photosynthesis to store intermittent sunshine as convenient fuels. And systemic innovationcould add flexibility to the worlds power grids and other energy systems so they can dependably channelthe suns unreliable energy.Unleashing all this innovation will require visionary public policy: funding researchers developing next generationsolar technologies, refashioning energy systems and economic markets and putting together adiverse clean energy portfolio. Although solar cant power the planet by itself, it can be the centerpiece of aglobal clean energy revolution.