Solar energy has been around for quite a while and most people don’t think about it much except for ones who are already into renewable sources of energy. Environmentalists have always loved idea of solar energy but what has kept it from going more mainstream, being more widely used and looked upon as something someone wants to spend money to install on their property? There have been improvements in technology of solar energy, but has there been enough? Isn’t war on terror and desire to be independent of foreign energy sources enough to persuade people to use solar energy? At what point will solar energy become great and never ending source of energy many of envisioned many years ago?

Well, I, for one, think that time has just about come for solar energy to really take off because of one reason: it will be economically right and smart thing to do.

Last year I was driving to Las Vegas from San Jose and when I was just about three quarters of way to my destination I passed a sign that said something about a “solar farm.” I glanced over and saw row upon row of solar panels sitting in middle of dessert. This is about only farm that could survive in dessert I thought to myself. Then I thought “ Wow. Why can’t I do that?” In a smaller fashion of course because of my limited resources. But I thought why not rent some land and buy some of these panels and start my own little farm? It made sense and actually it still makes sense to me.

I went home later and looked into solar energy industry. I wanted to see if this was possible now and I thought if these people put all those panels out in dessert and sold energy to others why can’t a small businessman?

Well, what I found out is that it isn’t quite possible to do just yet. Why? Because cost of panels, property, labor etc.. wasn’t low enough to make a profit for what you can sell energy for. The solar farm was more than likely subsidized by government. So I looked into possibility of using them on homes. This thought has been around for decades and you do see panels on more homes than you used to so I was wondering if this was possible now. I found out that it just takes too long for average consumer to get their investment back to consider putting solar panels on their homes.

The average time for a homeowner to get money back on their investment is anywhere from 12 years to 20 years. For this industry to take off that figure I believe will have to go down to around 5 to 7. Not that far really. It could actually go below that.

Three things have to happen for solar energy promise to become a reality and for homeowners and entrepreneurs to decide in large numbers to use solar panels to create electricity:

1. The price of panels will have to decrease. 2. The panels will have to improve and produce more energy. 3. The cost of energy will have to increase.

Now far be it for me to make light of people who are in truly desperate straits and who are prepared to try anything to relieve their precarious situation. The worst that can happen, assuming no deliberate or unknowing fraud, is that everyone has something else to think about for a day or so. For a while they have some cause for hope.

And it may indeed rain and drought will be over. But in most cases not.

For more information on droughts, visit http://www.home-weather-stations-guide.com/drought.html

Rain making can be divided into two types - cloud seeding, which has strong scientific and engineering reasoning behind it, and, for moment, everything else.

Cloud seeding has been used to create or increase rain for over 50 years, and while results are a little patchy and rarely spectacular, when right combination of cloud seeding method and clouds is present, it has been shown to work many times over, and in a cost effective way.

But what of rest? I don't wish to question power of prayer, which presumably transcends all physical rules, but it is worth looking at just what it would take to change weather pattern before it is ready to change.

But first let's take a look at rain maker's methods.

They can be divided into two parts - local knowledge and rainmaking techniques of ceremonies.