Excellent Commentary .............................................................................................. Another real issue is the most efficient way to commence the business.. ........................................................................................ It makes the best sense in terms of cost per unit...and efficiency...to install solar ...city by city... Installing city by city...would create efficiencies not allowed by house by house installation....and would increase the speed of the changeover period.... The simple example would be.....how much time would it take to install solar in 100 city projects versus 100 times 1000000 houses in each city....while also adding up the savings in labor and large unit purchasing power... Also the benefits could occur decades earlier...
A hybrid approach, which some companies are already looking at, would be to install solar on top of big box retailer roofs. No land needed. Every town metro has at least on big box company these days.
Amorphous crystal solar panels were invented about 30 yrs ago by a Dr. Orshinsky(spelling ??). His method was to spray the silicon onto aluminum rolls, very cheap to produce. I believe Kyocera bought the patent...no one in US would fund him.
good angle. otoh, likely the big box retailers want financial incentive to do it, a la space lease rate or tax benefit (which they'll likely get). But regardless, there is a cost. I really hope this isn't vaporware. Anyone have any efficiency stats on these panels, and power density per sq/ft #s? I notice this data is nowhere to be easily found; makes me wonder if its just hype without deliverable product.
http://www.konarka.com/ is doing similar thing too. The goal is to be able to print these stuff on any surface. Since there are multiple companies chasing this. I think this is very real. In the future, we should be able to buy a bucket of solar paint. Spray it. Put 2 terminals on it and vola, you are solar enabled....
Since we are talking green, I would love to see a cheaper version of soy spay foam. It's much better for insulating R value and it sound proofs too. But it's 2x the cost or more of regular cellulose or fiberglass insulation. I guess I am dreaming with commodity prices so high. Well it's Christmas
I believe their first 18 months supply is already spoken for. They would probably do better licensing the technology. If waiting for them to ramp up on their own, could take many years. Fabrication and Research are two very different animals...