Indeed, various companies, including GE, are investing heavily in ways to come up with cost-effective systems to store the wind and solar energy that their wind turbines and solar technologies capture in combination with other means of generating electricity and power.

FORBES: Power Opportunity for GE, et al: How To Store Wind/Solar Renewable Energy

While it is absolutely essential that we continue to drive down the costs of generating electricity from solar (and wind, which is indirect solar energy, ) doing so alone will not make these renewable energy sources competitive with traditional hydro, fossil or nuclear generated electricity.

FORBES: Storage, Not Generation, is the Challenge to Renewable Energy

After installing a solar panel, "it would take one to three months of generating electricity to pay off the energy invested in driving those hazardous waste emissions out of state, " said Dustin Mulvaney, a San Jose State University environmental studies professor who conducts carbon footprint analyses of solar, biofuel and natural gas production.

NPR: Solar Industry Grapples With Hazardous Wastes