Solar power for 2 dollars a day!

Ah! That`s great! Solar batteries are our future energy source..

That would be fantastic.

Every new house should require solar panels as standard and the energy companies should be forced to buy back any unused energy and put it back into the grid.

Surely if every household had solar panels then we would be making a decent effort.

I think this is great news. I project the prices becoming much more affordable in time.

Great to have so many trying to do something.

That's beautiful,I like to see good ideas ,Thank You

Wow, this sounds like a great opportunity for many.

This is wonderful! you don't have to own a home to use solar energy and unlike putting them on a roof,if you live where it snows like I do bet they are easy to remove to clean them too!

The cost is still too high and they have no data on how much these panels would create in a day. Like others where does this $2.00 per day come from and are they aware of other products currently in testing phases around the world such as creating panels much as certain flooring is made by rolling it out. That in Great Britain and Canada there are companies working on paints that have cells within so you can paint your house and it becomes one large panel. There are too many ideas coming at once to justify a 600.00 per panel as inexpensive while comparing it to what?

unclecharlie writes,

"FOUR GRAND FOR A BLACK DISC? I don't care how energy efficient it is, why do solar cells have to be the most d*** expensive "home improvement" items?"

Breathtaking credulity, CHARLIE.

On the off chance that you aren't kidding us, you've earned full marks for rewriting the words, but apparently you suffered a bout of aphasia?

Let's provide some helpful context for you.

Does that $4000 buy something?

What does the article actually say? Is it only one black disc? Or several? Doesn't each disc do something other than just sit there? Doesn't the array provide an independent source of power to your home? Isn't that right?

Charlie, do you prefer to remain hostage to oil and energy companies to the end of your days? If so, why?

Does the concept of paying more (once) to suddenly pay infinitely less (from then on) not make sense to you? Is it too foreign sounding? Seem tricky?

How does "not caring" how energy efficient these infernal DISCS are solve any of your energy cost problems now or in the future?

For instance, when manipulated energy prices ramp up again, beyond your means, what are your options then?

It can happen again. Exactly as it did in California thanks to ENRON. When just plain folks got to choose whether to pay for energy, or pay the other costs of staying alive and having a roof over their heads.

You don't get why new technology is "expensive"? Can't figure out why innovations cost money?

Opportunities have costs. For some reason you see the costs but you never see the opportunity. Are you sure you aren't working at a senior level in Big Auto?

Charlie, I think you need to get out more. Talk to your nieces and nephews. The ones who think things through and see advantages that help them stretch a buck.

FOUR GRAND FOR A BLACK DISC? I don't care how energy efficient it is, why do solar cells have to be the most d*** expensive "home improvement" items?

misses the biggest point- how much electricity does it produce!?

bashirdr writes,

"Great, but what about when it's cloudy?"

What about it? Solar radiation is just that - radiation, and the technology, assuming it's up to par, can take advantage of that radiation regardless of what we can see when it's cloudy.

So I would modify your question to ask - what is the panel's capacity for absorbing all levels of solar radiation?

You write, "I also don't get how they can say it costs $2/day."

It may work like this. If someone buys a house they are unlikely to pay for it all in one lump sum. The actual page reference above puts the cost of covering an entire roof at $30,000.

One way of calculating that final cost is averaging it per day. Again modifying your own question - "How long before it costs $0 per day? How many panels to 'cover' a roof"

As to $2 per day? That's what it is now. When the tech gets smarter? Think it will cost more than that?

My only concern would be eventual resale, and there's a whole rest of the world waiting for what we might cast off for something better.

The idea that the oil cartel, the energy cartel, and with their money - political control - is vulnerable to extinction, I think appeals to just about everybody these days.

The goodwill which once existed for these monstrosities they have squandered. The sooner we can be rid of their socially toxic practices the better.

That's great, I'm ordering right now!

I love the idea, but $600 is steep right about now.

this article shows up twice on the homepage, once under "green" and once under "tech"

i think this is proof in the pudding: the old homepage was a better design.

Great, but what about when it's cloudy?

How much power does one of these output? Can I run my refrigerator on it? My hot water heater? A microwave, a coffee pot?

How do I get my appliances to draw power from the collector and not the grid?

What are these things made out of? How renewable are the materials, how energy intensive is the process?

I also don't get how they can say it costs $2/day. Once you have the panels, don't they just make free energy for you? So the cost of the electricity would depend on how long you keep the panels, right?

this is better then paying an all out high electric bill or gas bill to heat with. Planning on doing alot of solar work on the house i am just buying. thanks for sharing Jan

Ya I am getting tired of paying outrageous electric bills despite living in the darkness 3/4 of my time and hardly ever using the microwave or stoves. Part of the reason our economy is so effed is because of the rising cost of fuel and natural gas used in homes.

Wow.. and in my own backyard! Very cool.

I'm in my 20's and would spend more than $4,000 for solar panels.

Solar won't be the only savior, but if we all invest in renewable energy it will certainly be the a large industry.

My hope is to embrace the tidal and hydro energy on the coastlines.

wow this looks soo cool and a good way to help save energy and help our enviornment at the same time...i want to get one!

Just an idea but why not make all the tinting and curtains into solar collectors our cars too.. think how much power we could capture on a sitting car in the parking lot.

Please God - help science save the planet!

Innovation....so damn happy to see all of this, Jan.
Glad you're keeping up on this and keeping us informed.

I can't wait to have these portable solar things to hook to the house and save energy from the energy monopoly grid.

How can I invest in this company?

one day we will all have these simple, cheap, and solar devices,...long gone will be the concept of delivering energy over thousands of miles from energy storage/distribution facilities. Long gone will be the manufacturing of energy on a massive scale,..energy will become local and personal.
I also read a while back that clothing we wear will power our phones and PDAs through micro-solar stitched into the fabric.
Tesla once said that when we truly understand electricity, we will be living as one w/ nature.

great to have on a mobile home?

I think the possibilities of this are limitless. It would be great for people who do not own a home and do not have the ability to place solar panels on the roof of where they live. Businesses, schools, etc could also benefit. And while I posted about a world at 4 degrees warming, that is really not to depress people but to move them to understand that unless we band together and see the innovations and opportunity we have to avoid that scenario we will reach it. Innovations like this that can be used in many ways and expanded upon are just part of the solution to avoiding that scenario, or at the very least delaying it.