That’s an important step for the solar industry gaining more political and economic power…a great sign for the industry’s growth.

Videos from the Solar Power event are up on the website. As always, you can watch snippets of the video on YouTube as well.

In addition, check out Sunpower’s Solar savings calculator to see how much you could potentially save with a solar installation. Only takes about 5 minutes.

A question came up at the solar talk on Tuesday…there is confusion on standard power conversions. What does it mean when a power plant is 15 MW? How about my PG&E bill that rates everything in kw h?

In science class, energy is generally labeled in Joules (sometime kilojoules – KJ or megajoules – MJ). Energy is time independent…it’s just energy.

But we never hear about Joules in normal life. We always hear about Watts (sometimes kW – kilowatt, MW – megawatt).

1 Watts = 1 Joule/second.

So when you hear about a 100 W bulb, that means it ‘s using 100 Joules of energy per second. A 15 MW plant (that number represents peak output) can produce 15 million joules per second.

Now to your electric bill. You get billed on a kw*h (kilowatt hour) basis.

1 kw* h= 1000 watts hour= 1000 (Joules/second) * hour = 1000J/sec * 60 sec/1 min * 60 min/hour = 3,600,000 Joules.

So your electric bill actual does state how much energy is being used. Just with a bastardized unit of measure.

Presently, a couple “plants” supply power. These plants exist out in the desert and typically provide 100-300 megawatts of power (30K-120K homes).

Thin Film Solar
It’s the same concept as standard PV solar, but the material uses polymer substrates to create a flexible material. The resultant material is much faster to install while providing similar energy output as PV. In addition, much less silicon is used, possibly lowering the cost down the road.

The technology is still in a demonstration phase (not much manufacturing capacity), but shows a good deal of promise.

Here is a video on a thin film startup in the Bay Area (c/o KQED QUEST)

Solar Paint
Still in development, the idea is a special set of ingredients (aluminized mylar and indium tin oxide) are mixed in with paint. When sunlight hits the paint, electrons are knocked loose straight into wires that connect directly to your home’s power. The potential is monumental…cheap, easy to apply, little to no installation.

These are just a few examples….an extraordinary amount of money is being poured into solar research in the last few years. We do have a lot to look forward to when it comes to solar, the question seems to be transitioning from research into strategy for implementation…a huge issue for any new energy source.

In one of their interactive pieces, they describe the inner workings of a Solar PV cell, the kind that most people have installed on their roofs (as will be described in our upcoming cafe). Flash is required to view the below explanation.

You can also see a larger version here.

In upcoming days, I will delve into the varied world of new solar technologies, from thin-film to solar thermal.

(If you click the icon next to the link, you will be able to hear each part)
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4