No we don’t, it says here, but we do have an energy conversion and distribution problem. One could say much the same about food, fresh water, medications, good beer, and fishing holes too. To stop carping, Spiegel’s English language feed is carrying Jens Lubbadeh’s acount of something called Desertec. It is a German-led project to turn desert sun into inexhaustible, clean, and affordable energy. It’s a story with the sorts of numbers that come around often, and are always intriguing but not entirely convincing. One example is that on the Middle East’s and North Africa’s deserts fall 630,000 terawatt-hours of sunshine annually. All Europe needs is to convert 4,000 of them into electricity to satisfy its current demand for current. Parabolic trough solar concentrators and collectors, it says here, are a good way to get started.

The piece may be on the beam, but it is hard to tell as it is essentially a sales job. It lets no one rain on its parade of sunny facts and other declarations.

-CP

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