I don’t know about the rest of you but I’ve always yearned to tell my utility company; “Here’s my last bill and payment…now go pack sand!”. Of course sitting around in the dark isn’t exactly what I had planned for the weekend so I go around turning off lights and shivering in rooms with no radiator (only two and one happens to be the bathroom) because I refuse to use the small electric space heater we have. Then there’s the dream about a rack of inexpensive, highly efficient solar cells silently flowing power into the power cells in the basement and watching everyone else pony up the dough every month to their utility god.
Such ecstasy, what a dream.
Ah, but alas…with a small solar power unit of the size that could easily power a small, single wide trailer running anywhere from 10 to 15,000 dollars a pop, the thought of what it would cost to run an entire house is not to be considered.
Perhaps not too much longer though. A recent breakthrough may be bringing the reality of an affordable solar power setup to the working man and woman just a bit closer than it is now as stated in the excerpt below:
Australia- A new type of solar cell, the “Sliver Cell”, using razor-thin strips of material, has the potential to revolutionize the global solar power industry by dramatically reducing the amount of silicon required, the most expensive part of solar technology today.
Using innovative manufacturing techniques and cells less than 70 microns thick, the process requires 90% less silicon, yet delivers greater efficiency than current photovoltaic cells, and cuts the costs of production up to 60-80 percent…
Source: Good News Network - Skinny New “Sliver Cells” to Slash Solar Costs by 60%
A 60%-80% cost reduction? Bring it on I say, bring it on. I can see the last utility bill heading out the door now with my message tattooed across the envelope in great big looping letters.
Now let’s hope I live long enough for this great new technology to make it to the USA 
Technorati tags: solar power, clean energy, environment
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Tags: clean energy, Environment
April 18th, 2007 at 10:32 am
A much needed boost to the solar power debate, let’s hope it fulfills its promise.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
If you think that’s interesting, try this one on for size. Kinda’ blows this breakthrough out the window.
And thanks for stopping by. You’ll get a link back in a couple days from your comment.