It s unlikely that the sun will ever be able to provide enough power to provide for humanity's insatiable power demands directly. There is one reason and one reason alone, cloud coverage. For the majority of the year much of the globe including many of the world's centres are shrouding in clouds without access to the sun.

However, although not as visible as other forms of renewable energy, solar panels are increasingly being incorporated into new building projects where viable. Although sometimes they able to contribute a small amount to power generation. Some streetlights also rely on the sun's energy to some degree.

Aside from the obvious benefits that they provide such as generating power for free, the fact that they can be installed unobtrusively makes them more attractive than wind or water power. They are still nowhere near the stage of providing electricity to any degree.

Using the UK as an example, the demand for energy is very high, but the sun's energy despite feed in tariff schemes and similar incentives encouraging people to switch to greener energy use, the demand unfortunately remains fairly low. In this case, the problem of weather is especially prescient since the islands are shrouded in cloud for much of the year.

This story repeats itself around the world, although there is no hostility towards solar energy by the consumer, the level of power provided does not yet justify the cost of installing panels into a building. In the future perhaps the cost can be driven down to make them an attractive proposition. The small lamps for private gardens have become popular, so perhaps massive solar panels instead of roofing will be the must have for a garden party. The future is a tricky animal, and we would do best to respect it rather than mock it with idle speculation.