Quote Originally Posted by ki4itv View Post
...and how do you get the energy if you don't let the smoke out?
You don't. The "smoke" comes in the form of the fuel required to be burned in the process of mining the raw materials, refining them, fabricating them, manufacturing the actual solar devices, the disposal when they are replaced, the delivery required at each step of the way. Fuel is burned at each of these steps. The energy yield is promising and its a great start but there is still a very long way to go and it's still very far from ready for prime time. And certainly not "smoke free".