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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.

An Australian climate lawyer says the G8 nations' commitment to a 50 per cent cut in global greenhouse gas emissions would require a much bigger reduction target for industrialised nations. Countries agreed at the G8 summit to a "vision" of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.