This (and algae, etc.) is the way we should use solar energy, not with useless and expensive panels that directly convert it to electricity. Living organisms are more efficient.
Photovoltaic cells is mostly a niche product, they're quite resource intensive to manufacture and don't deliver very high output.
However, there are other forms of solar electric energy production that are much more efficient, including stuff like stirling engines and steam turbines.
Algae is an ideal means of vehicle fuel production, and we should absolutely invest as much as needed to get this going. It's as close to free energy as we're likely to get.
Cheap abundant energy is the only way for humanity to progress.
Abundance is not the same as progress. It can easily be the opposite.
Maybe then we'll see the return of supersonic passenger jets and space travel.
Supersonic jets aren't really neccessary. They're just extremely wasteful in energy use, while not really bringing much benefit back to the world. So you can fly transatlantic in two hours instead of five and consume 10x the fuel per passenger of the slower aircraft, whoop de fucking doo, start your trip earlier.
We already have green rocket tech, so to speak, that's not the problem. You can't get more sustainable and environmentally friendly than burning liquid hydrogen/oxygen.
However, to really get space travel off the ground we need to get over our somewhat irrational fear of everything nuclear. Nuclear-thermal rocket engines have enormous thrust and scale up much better than conventional chemical rockets. That'll be the only way to bring significant payloads into orbit. It would also be safer, you wouldn't need heat shields and airbrake through the atmosphere to get back down, you'd just fire the main engines instead to slow down for re-entry instead.
So it's not politically correct, hauling nuclear reactors that weigh x tons up through the atmosphere, so what. It's the only really feasible way.
