However, there should be no doubt in any good engineer's mind that, notwithstanding initial capital-cost hurdles, solar and wind technologies can provide the United States with a secure and environmentally friendly source of energy. Of course, if one only considers short-term economic factors, hydropower, uranium, coal, and natural gas are the best choices to provide energy.
All energy sources have advantages and disadvantages.
Once a new source has been proven technologically sound, it deserves engineering respect. While I regret his experience with an old and poorly designed solar hot-water system, using it as the basis to attack an entire technology is as ludicrous as saying that personal computers are not viable because he can't buy software for an old HeathKit computer that he picked up at a swap meet. So the fact is that the equivalent energy output of at least five good-size conventionally fueled power plants could be harvested from a PV field 10 miles long by 10 miles wide. Someone driving from Phoenix to Las Vegas doesn't need an engineering degree to realize that land availability is no obstacle to the use of solar energy technology. While it is true that PV and other alternative and renewable technologies produce energy at higher costs today than conventional technologies, these new technologies are clearly viable and deserve respect.