There is now panacea for energy production they all have their drawbacks. Some of my thoughts on the subject:
1a) Solar panels aren't all that efficient / cost effective when you factor in manufacturing cost, maintenance cost, lifespan, et cetera. Now, they definitely have their place. It's just that these aren't going to lead to a fundamental change in our energy consumption. Hopefully, there is a move of high end homes (aka rich people who don't care about the overall cost of their power) who want to go green because it's fashionable or because it makes them feel good about their carbon footprint.
1b) It's not necessarily that the efficiency of solar panels are expected to improve so much. Rather, as I understand it, that it's anticipated that the cost to produce them is going to go down. And, that their lifespan is going to increase.
2) There is a solar power plant in California just this side of the Nevada border that I think is really interesting for places like Nevada and Arizona where land is cheap and AC demands are high in the summer. It uses mirrors to reflect/ focus sunlight and generate steam then a typical steam turbine generator to produce the electricity. Lots of potential for this type of facility IMO. Though there are few places where this is truly feasible.
I will, however, point out that the plant is no where near as productive as planned. And, that some environmentalists have objections about it and the way it affects local wildlife.
3a) Wind power has some real limitations. It's only efficient some of the time (when the wind blows), it takes a lot of maintenance, it only works in some locations (where wind is reliable). There are issues with storage because when the wind blows is not the time of day when people are most in need of energy.
3b) My impression is that there were significant leaps being made in the ability to store power. This may not be a 10x leap, but it could really help wind power.
4) Hydro is incredibly efficient with virtually zero carbon emissions. It's just that we've probably got dams everywhere they can go already.
5) Nuclear is absolutely wonderful with regards to carbon emissions. But, the public (and many environmentalists) appear dead set against it.
6) One major improvement would be completely moving away from coal which is much worse for CO2 emissions than other forms of power. Even if we just replaced these with natural gas based power plants. Maybe not a 10x improvement some something like a 2x or 4x improvement.
