Knies is hopeful that soon the world will embrace solar power as the leading source of energy.
The car was built by the SUNY New Paltz Solarcar Racing Team in partnership with The Solar Energy Consortium as a way to promote environmentally conscious design and solar power as a viable energy source for personal transportation.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this design is its dual-mode power system, which consists of the standard solar cell array as well as a nuclear power source, allowing the rover to operate continuously and in areas that go long periods without sunlight.
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In India, China, Africa and the Middle East, solar should soon be a significant source of power.
Such solutions are clearly some way off commercial development, but with Apple rumored to be designing its hotly-anticipated iWatch around a power source based on kinetic and solar power, a battery-free world isn't such a distant dream.
Meanwhile, whatever happens with nuclear energy, solar power remains the most dynamic, fastest-growing source of clean, renewable energy and, indeed, of any energy source.
Bob Gibson, VP for market intelligence at the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), pointed to one large source of growth for the industry: utilities expanding their energy mix to include solar.
Driving those market valuations is the expectation of more growth ahead: Analysts both in industry and in the government anticipate that solar will be the fastest-growing alternative source of electric power over the next 25 years.
However, standing in one of the country's 30 solar plants -- overlooked by sand dunes on all sides, Dawoud tells CNN that he hopes that solar technology may eventually offer a viable alternative energy source to power the UAE's huge desalination needs.
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Personally, I just think that solar makes the most sense as an energy technology, and the tech innovations in solar power are such that I expect it to be the most common source of power before the century is out.
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Tidal turbines can be installed closer to shore than wave energy equipment, and thanks to the regularity of the tides, tidal power offers a more stable renewable energy source than, say, intermittent wind or solar.
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