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Compared to its fossil-fueled brethren, it didn't set any speed records. The plane, that has the wingspan of an Airbus A340 and 12,000 solar cells incorporated into the wings to supply four electric motors, travels about as fast as most people in a residential 25 mph zone when they believe nobody's looking.

The solar cells also charge the 400kg lithium polymer batteries and so the aircraft can fly at night.

However the Solar Impulse is just a one of a type, a vanguard, something that could inspire a generation to trust in the energy of the sun. I'd liken it to the Herald of Galactus in issue 48 of the Fantastic Four. Although the idea of the cosmic Silver Surfer was far different, his arrival made the citizens of earth (in the Marvel Comics universe) look to the sky.

There they saw unbridled power.

A brand new generation

I'd argue that power will there be even minus the Surfer. Every day the societies with this tiny planet of ours use about 15 terawatts of power. A terawatt is just a trillion watts.

Derek Abbott, a professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia, says his country could capture enough solar energy to satisfy the world. Maybe more. Sunlight, he says, produces enough energy to power about 10,000 of our planets, or 174,000 terawatts.

Abbott explains in videos on YouTube that with 500-by-500 square kilometers of parabolic mirrors, enough of the sun's rays could possibly be reflected back once again to boil water and create electricity. Excess energy will be used to generate hydrogen, that could be exported as a clean-burning fuel.

Simple? Certainly more straight-forward than letting Galactus into our solar system so he could suck the planet dry.

Challenge of Galactus

While that threat might appear to those of you who didn't mature reading Marvel comics, pollution and climate change provide a risk nearly as scary. Thus, only a little inspiration can't hurt. Little things, like the Solar Impulse, may trigger curiosity about just one single kid who'll go to unlock the key to tapping zero-point energy. The Surfer served as herald to Galactus until he was freed by the Fantastic Four.

And while I'm on the subject of cool new stuff, there's another electric plane in the news. This 1 was recently flown by Chip Yates, the guy who drove the world's fastest motorcycle to the record books.  solar panels ipswich

Flying electric, fast

This time around Yates climbed to the cockpit of an unusual experimental-looking aircraft, dubbed the Flight of the Century Long-ESA electric test plane, and shot to popularity from Inyokern Airport in California on July 19, in accordance with Paul Ridden of gizmag.com. Ridden says the plane was converted from a Long-EZ aircraft, which can be an outfit that gives materials and parts to the do-it-yourself airplane builder.

"During the flight, Yates were able to ramp the speed around 202.6 mph and lay claim to yet another speed record," Ridden writes.

So, will these developments affect the solar industry? Perhaps. But Tom Cotter, sales manager of Real Goods Solar Central Valley in Fresno, Calif., put my initial exuberance in perspective.

Another perspective cleaningsolarpanels.com.au

"The solar electric plane is cool technologically, makes a good newsworthy story and could possibly be utilized by educators to wow students into curiosity about solar/renewables/physics," he says. "As far as the North American solar industry, it doesn't do much."

Cotter, an astute follower of the clean energy industry and a genuine believer in clean air, explains that the solar industry is undergoing its own evolution as air conditioning contractors, furniture companies, Joe-in-the-truck handymen, electrical companies and others enter into the business of installing photovoltaic panels. http://cleaningsolarpanels.com.au/

Many have said that the actual reply to building the potential of clean energy is to put solar panels on every available rooftop and push for net-zero energy buildings. But this involves building a bullet-proof reputation. A whole lot depends on word-of-mouth sales. Spotty work could torpedo growth.

"You will see small advances in technology, but the actual advance will undoubtedly be adoption of what is already available," Cotter says