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One of the more thorny issues with any form renewable energy is collecting it. There is plenty of wind to meet our energy needs, the trick is "harvesting" it. The same goes of solar. As Cool Earth Solar's CEO Rob Lamkin says, "If you're going to replace hydrocarbons with solar, you're going to need a lot of collecting surface."

Solar energy can be utilized in various ways - to provide electricity, mechanical power, heat and lighting. Passive solar heating and cooling can save substantial electricity bills. Design of a building is very important for tapping passive solar energy. The building and windows are designed in such a way that they carefully balance their energy requirements without additional mechanical equipment. Solar benefits are utilized through windows and pumps, and fans are used minimally.

Could a potential good case for developing an eco-sheet, provided we can get the bill of materials. For consideration by Sergio / Fernando.

Two new solar communities with 20 homes combined are due to be completed in Gilroy, California by the end of the year each outfitted with a BP Solar solar electric system. "We all need to do our part to meet the California Solar Initiative, and this is definitely a step in the right direction. I'm glad to see the residents of Gilroy have solar available in the most economic way, which is having it installed during construction, rather than later as an add-on." Al Pinheiro, Mayor of Gilroy

Germany's Schott Solar and Wacker Chemie AG have formed a joint venture to produce silicon wafers for solar cells, another sign of how the solar industry is consolidating. Under the deal, Wacker will supply purified silicon to Schott Wacker who will make wafers and sell them to Schott who will make the solar cells. The joint venture will also sell wafer to other solar cell makers.

Possible article for LE? Grid parity seems to be approaching fast. Interesting point about the ' sweet spot'  for PV systems in the range of 4.7 to 20 MW.

Solar home designs explained. Learn the principles of passive solar home design

Fred Pearce has framed his latest opinion piece in Yale Environment 360 as one about Europe fiddling around with its climate change commitment (with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as lead violin), while the US is poised to reengage with the world under the Obama administration. What it's really about though is what the US would need to do to take that lead, and it all has to do with renewable energy. Though some of this may be recap for avid TreeHugger readers, it's worth repeating: Stephen Chu Appointment a Good Sign Beyond his stated commitment to dealing with climate change during the campaign, Pearce indicates that the appointment of Stephen Chu as energy secretary is the real sign that the US could soon lead the renewable energy/climate change race. Not only has he done pioneering research on solar power, energy efficiency and cellulosic biofuels at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he's also an advocate of a nationwide expansion of the electric grid to bring renewable energy from where it's most easily generated (west of the Mississippi) to where the greatest demand is (east of the river).

Skyline Solar today introduced the Skyline X14 System and announced that it has been selected for a 500-kilowatt (kW) concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) plant to be built in Durango, Mexico. DelSol Systems, one of Mexico's leading solar integrators, will construct the project, which will be the largest CPV plant in Latin America.