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For years I have been a severe critic of solar energy.

We have heard promises after promises of the advantages of solar energy and the advantages of panels on buildings to create solar energy. The problem has been that it was not cost effective and the only way it worked in this part of the country was with some form of government subsidies. In the long run, that's not a solution.

Some people have been very successful at using the "system" to their advantage and getting the government to not only help keep costs down, but to turn their solar paneled buildings or homes into a moneymaking gimmick by selling extra electricity back to the utility company. The real problem is that if enough people were involved in selling back energy at a rate above what the utility companies would normally pay, there could be a financial time bomb down the road if the plan grew too big.

Admittedly, technology has taken some great leaps forward over the last few years. Now an Israeli company, GreenSun Energy, claims to have developed a new photovoltaic panel that could make solar panels as much as five times more effective than its nearest competitor.

GreenSun Energy, based in Jerusalem, claims that it has found a cost efficient way to turn their solar panels into an effective way to produce electricity by direct or indirect sunlight. They claim their panels can produce energy by capturing sunlight from a cloudy environment and that the panels don't have to track the sun. Their claim is that this is based on what they refer to as light-concentrating technology. Their panels can be used as a "cost-effective transparent coating for buildings or windows."

If their claims are accurate, this could be the break the industry has been pursuing. All forms of technology go through stages of development until there are products that actually work. In the late 1970s, we saw the first wave of computers. By the late '90s, a technological evolution had changed everything we knew about computers. Almost all the early competitor manufactures are gone and only a handful of players are left.

If GreenSun Energy has a product that will work as advertised, it could well become the single biggest catalyst for advancing solar energy yet. Many solar energy companies on the market today will fall by the wayside -- think the old Commodore64 or the way Trs80 computers did, as better and better computers reached the market.

For Israel, it will represent one more step toward becoming energy independent. Israel must become totally independent. It has become more and more apparent that Israel can only rely on her own people. Jewish history has taught us that.

Successful development of inexpensive solar energy could also help open the eyes of some of Israel's sun-rich neighbors.

Within a few years, Israel will have in place enough natural gas to cut out her need to import coal for energy and the Better Place project will provide the country with a large fleet of electric powered autos. Israel will also be building new advanced large and smaller scale solar power plants.

Even today, Israel leads the world in water recycling with about 70 percent of her used water being cleaned and reused for other purposes. Spain, with about 30 percent recycling, is second. As the future unfolds, demand for water will surpass the need for oil.

I will be following GreenSun Energy and see what happens. I hope it works and I am very interested to see if it could work here in New Jersey in the near future.

Carl Resnick is a resident of Raritan and a local businessman.