Curtains

Architect Sheila Kennedy demonstrates how thin film could be used on textiles, in this case curtains, to capture solar radiation and turn it into energy. At present these are cost prohibitive, but the point is that alternative solar energy ideas are advancing beyond big silicon based solar panels.

Solar Paint

The Swansea Solar Paint project aims to develop a solar coating that can be painted on to building products.

Source: Inhabitat

Konarka Technologies, headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts and an offshoot of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, is the developer of Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, and can be produced using highly efficient inkjet printing processes. Their research goals include developing materials that could be used in wearable solar cells, photovoltaic fabrics, printed roofing materials, and flexible products and packaging.

Source: Konarka Technologies

Going solar is currently very costly (I priced some panels for my home - $8000 per panel). Newer thin film technologies aim to use lower cost alternatives - materials and commercial production processes that could produce solar collectors at a more reasonable cost than silicon based solar cells. Popular Science Magazine featured a product called the Nanosolar Powersheet as one of 2007 Innovations of The Year. In addition to providing solar collection without a panel, Nanosolar uses no expensive silicon and relies instead upon a “semiconducting ink” made of a mixture of copper, indium, gallium and selenium nanoparticles that are printed onto aluminum.

Some of the other companies working with thin film technologies are:

• BioSolar, Inc.- (OTCBB:BSRC)
• China Solar Energy Holdings Limited (HKG:CHINASOLAR)
• Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER) (Uni-Solar Division)
• ErSol Solar Energy AG (FRA:ES6l)
• First Solar, Inc. (FSLR)
• Flisom
• Solar Applied Materials Technology Co. (TPO:1785)
• Solar Thin Films, Inc. (SLTF.PK) (thin film equipment manufacturer)
• Wurth Solar
• XsunX, Inc. (OTCBB: XSNX)