Let's put things in perspective here:

Why are we seeking alternative energy sources? It depends on the context we're talking about. I'm going to presume that we're speaking of the global context of greenhouse gas emissions, to reduce global warming. Now I'm supposing the pollutants are simply non-greenhouse gases, or of much less strength than CO2 or methane.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/200...s-msm102308.php

My suggestion for what would work? The cheapest alternative energy is unused energy. I reckon that the best method is to cut down on trips, holidays, save power whenever possible. It's not only the money factor that counts in research, it's also the time factor, and it's that time factor that counts right now. Otherwise, use non-polluting energy sources such as nuclear to bridge over till fusion and solar arrives as a cheap source of energy, because right now they simply aren't (fusion almost by definition, solar, well, the variability problem etc, etc)

Be it solar or biomass, there is just too little application locally. Much of the biomass energy in padi field wasted by contributing to haze, meanwhile the palm oil refinery do generate surplus of energy by burning EFB, but AFAIK none of them feeding it back to the grid.

I just don't see our gov has any foreseeable plan to cut our dependency on fossil fuel.
Solar is just part of the puzzle to renewable energies needs.

Physical efficiency has nothing to do with popular use, financial efficiency, yes.

Take a simple example, diesel engines have much higher efficiency then petrol engine, why Malaysian mostly drive petrol cars? It is because our law make it much more expensive to drive diesel car. Not to say that Gov has taxed any solar panel, but solar panel is very expensive by nature, and our electricity is relatively cheap and make it financially impractical to install solar panels.

Governmental encouragement(not only by words) and dedication plays a vital role in widespread use of renewable energies. Take Spain for example, they have extensive renewable energies use in Solar, Wind, and the only Wave farm in the world. In order to reach the target of cutting 20% emission by 2020, their government has taken the initiative and made policies that encourage renewable energies.

We have our own solar maker here, do we make use of the solar panels they made?

The distribution of the new alternative energy is also important since a large percentage of current fossil fuel is consumed by transportation.

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Added on August 14, 2009, 1:02 pm
Well all I can say is the government seems to be always lacking in foresight.
I remember hearing about hydropower and it's potential in Malaysia since secondary school. Ask any student about electricity generation in Malaysia and they think of hydropower. But after 2 decades why our utilization of hydropower is dismally low?

Exactly.

I can argue with bgeh here until page 100 about solar, but the main problem here is that our gov is short sighted, thirst for short term gain, and prioritise profit. Being a developing country, we can ignore Kyoto Protocol and do not think about cutting emission just yet.

Even our energy security is at stake. We can be easily affected by sky rocketing petroleum price, and even if petroleum price came down, TNB say they are burning imported coal. And the latest I read about we need to import natural gas to meet our own demand because all our gas exported under the pricing some decades ago.

In short, its a big mess. And in long, what can we do to get our foot out of this mess.

And I do not think that NUKE is the solution.

Of course there is never enough. Certain that solar power still have unimaginable potential yet to be unlocked, and this can only achieve via dedicated research and practical application. We have the technology, and we need to dedicate more energy into refining the technology. And improvement like that can never stop. When "enough" here it would mean sufficient effort applied and it is practical enough to become one of the major alternative energy, or even replacing our primary energy source.

Do you mean saving resources from fusion to put into solar research? No doubt fusion required considerable research before it is feasible, but that is something that is not yet a reality. Perhaps it will benefit us with unlimited energy after some 100+ years. It won't help us immediately, but the synergy is there. Things has to be carried out simultaneously.

Meanwhile, what do you think will actually work for real life then? Apart from building more and bigger coal fired power station.

(When talk about coal fired power station, there are still amber room for improvement, like clean coal fired station which capture all the CO2 emission and produce no smoke at all, etc.)

But you wanted a more technical discussion, and you're veering into the politics of the thing, every time another technical problem with solar is brought up, which is probably RWI, no?

I remember hearing about hydropower and it's potential in Malaysia since secondary school. Ask any student about electricity generation in Malaysia and they think of hydropower. But after 2 decades why our utilization of hydropower is dismally low?

You know what, Malaysia already got a surplus of energy.

Please note that it is only Peninsular Malaysia that has surplus, while Sabah and Sarawak towns are having daily blackout. Constructing an underwater cable could at least help utilizing those extra power.

It is true that no point to develop expensive alternative energy just to waste it. It should go two way, efficient use of energy must receive attention as well.

Peninsular has surplus. East Malaysia has even more surplus compare to peninsular Malaysia. Please read link below, the underwater cable is to supply from East Malaysia to peninsular Malaysia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakun_Hydroelectric_Project

The blackouts are probably caused by the poor grid maintainence since East Malaysia has huge land with hard to access terrain and low population density. Who knows one of the electric pole is knock down by an elephant in the middle of the jungle or something.

Nuclear power.. ^^