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Going solar seems to get easier by the day - both logistically and financially. Before, homeowners had to save up to pay the huge upfront cost of buying and installing solar panels. Now, would-be solar energy users don't need to put up startup funds - nor do they even have to deal with an extra repayment bill! The latest company making solar power accessible is Renewable Funding, a financial company with a new solar-friendly product called CityFIRST. CityFIRST basically allows homeowners to install solar panels with no upfront cost - using a solar installer or contractor of their choice - then pay for panels over 20 years via a line item on property tax bills.

Technology Review has an article on thin film solar vendor Xunlight's approach - making cells on flexible steel sheets - Roll-Up Solar Panels. Xunlight, a startup in Toledo, Ohio, has developed a way to make large, flexible solar panels. It has developed a roll-to-roll manufacturing technique that forms thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells on thin sheets of stainless steel. Each solar module is about one meter wide and five and a half meters long. As opposed to conventional silicon solar panels, which are bulky and rigid, these lightweight, flexible sheets could easily be integrated into roofs and building facades or on vehicles. Such systems could be more attractive than conventional solar panels and be incorporated more easily into irregular roof designs. They could also be rolled up and carried in a backpack, says the company's cofounder and president, Xunming Deng. "You could take it with you and charge your laptop battery," he says.

Jamais Cascio has a post on the widespread availability of DIY solar panels in the US - Living in the Green Future. Popped into Costco today to pick up a couple of items, and what did I see? Just in case you can't read that too well, it's a 60W solar panel setup, with inverter (allowing it to power 110V devices), junction box to hook the four panels together, cabling, and frame... for under $300. Stacked like tires at Costco. This is a beautiful example of why I talk about the banality of the future. Cheap solar power systems readily available to the unwashed masses was once something out of science fiction; today, it barely elicits a glance from shoppers stocking up on cases of pickles and TVs by the six-pack.

In a move that will bring thin-film solar panels to the U.S. residential market, First Solar has signed a deal to provide installer SolarCity with 100 megawatts' worth of solar arrays over the next five years. First Solar is also investing $25 million into SolarCity, the Silicon Valley startup backed by Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk. This is First Solar's initial foray into the home market - and apparently the first of any thin-film solar module maker. Thin-film solar panels are made by depositing solar cells on sheets of glass or flexible material and use little of the expensive silicon that forms the heart of more bulky conventional solar modules. That makes thin-film panels cheaper, although they are less efficient at converting sunlight into electricity. And thin is in for homeowners who prefer less-obtrusive panels on their roofs.

tullamarine interchange, tullamarine solar power, solar power, solar sound barrier, solar power barrier, sound-proof solar panels, noise reduction solar barriers In the search for a solar solution to power our cities, one of our biggest obstacles is the massive acreage required by conventional arrays. Photovoltaic panels are flat and expansive, and urban centers are at a serious loss for free space. Now Australian renewable energy retailer Going Solar has conceived of a clever strategy that infuses urban transit systems with energy producing potential - install solar panels in highways as sound barriers!

Going solar seems to get easier by the day - both logistically and financially. Before, homeowners had to save up to pay the huge upfront cost of buying and installing solar panels. Now, would-be solar energy users don't need to put up startup funds - nor do they even have to deal with an extra repayment bill! The latest company making solar power accessible is Renewable Funding, a financial company with a new solar-friendly product called CityFIRST. CityFIRST basically allows homeowners to install solar panels with no upfront cost - using a solar installer or contractor of their choice - then pay for panels over 20 years via a line item on property tax bills.

One of the most promising technologies available in sustainable energy is solar panels. As the technology matures, so does the efficiency of the panels.

The Midnite solar power panel is a compact panel which is used for mounting a single inverter. As a result, it saves a lot of money, time and space. It can also be used for mounting multiple inverters.

A new kind of silent hero has joined the fight against climate change. Santa Coloma de Gramenet, a gritty, working-class town outside Barcelona, has placed a sea of solar panels atop mausoleums at its cemetery, transforming a place of perpetual rest into one buzzing with renewable energy. Flat, open and sun-drenched land is so scarce in Santa Coloma that the graveyard was just about the only viable spot to move ahead with its solar energy program. The power the 462 panels produces - equivalent to the yearly use by 60 homes - flows into the local energy grid for normal consumption and is one community's odd nod to the fight against global warming.

March 3, 2009 Arizona based First Solar has achieved a major milestone in reducing the manufacturing cost for solar panels below the $1 per watt price barrier - the target necessary for solar to compete with coal-burning electricity on the grid or grid-parity. Using cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology in its thin-film photovoltaic cells, First Solar claims to have the lowest manufacturing cost per watt in the industry with the ability to make solar cells at 98 cents per watt, one third of the price of comparable standard silicon panels. The efficiency is in part due to a low cycle time - 2.5 hours from sheet of glass to solar module - about a tenth of the time it takes for silicon equivalents.

The solar panels are nowadays used for the residential purpose as the electricity bills are emerging a lot to bring the affordable power for the remote areas where there is no electricity...

"Global Wood Based Panel Market to 2017" is a comprehensive publication that enables readers the critical perspectives to be able to evaluate the world market for wood based panels.

A detailed infographic mapping our the entire UK's solar pv cost, payback period, earnings and ROI by region. If you have been wondering wether solar panels are a good investment and make financial sense, this infogrpahic will give you benchmark figures for domestic solar pv systems in your region. Simply find your location and read off the figures!

Sixtron has recently developed a thin coating for solar cells called Silexium. This anti-reflective coating could make solar panels much more affordable ...

This dual integrated panel makes the installation of Solectria PVI 1800 much easier and faster. They are also applicable to invertors having a grid voltage of 240VAC.

REPUBLICANS FIGHT TO KEEP GAS PRICES DOWN

Something that has long been a dream of mine looks like it will be a reality soon. I have always wanted to see a solar powered solar panel factory, or a wind powered wind turbine factory. Basically you use a little fossil fuels to get started, then the first however many turbines/panels off the line power the factory, from then on in it's all carbon neutral.

The California city of Berkeley has approved a new financing scheme for loans to homeowners who install rooftop solar panels, a landmark programme that could inspire other US cities to follow suit. The Berkeley scheme would finance city-backed solar loans through a small addition to the property taxes of each participating home, eliminating the need to find up-front cash to install panels that can cost the average American upwards of $30,000.