And, like we said, there's no reason Californians would reject the deal between Solaren and PG&E—the utility company isn't investing or putting up any money at all, it's just saying "sure, we'll buy energy from you if and when this thing ever works." Which, you know, duh. The 15-year contract starts in 2016, by which time hopefully we won't have already devolved into a Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic desert state. [CPUC via CNET]

Designed as a residential, hotel and entertainment facility, the Vertical Village is absolutely blanketed in solar panels. In fact, the building is expected to earn a LEED Gold certification when it is completed. That distinction is difficult enough for a homeowner to obtain, much less a gigantic commercial structure. Each building is oriented to reduce the heat from sun exposure—quite the contrary to a massive bed of solar collectors on the south side of the building that automatically adjusts to the sun's position for maximum efficiency. The village also features a solar roof that helps to transport energy and break the solar field up into more manageable segments.

It's not enough to have all of the really cool buildings on the planet—now they want a monopoly on the sun. Damn you Dubai. [Graftlab via Ecofriend via Inhabitat]

So even on cloudy days and when placed outside of the sun's direct gaze, these panels can still draw low levels of current—too low for commercial release at this time, but something scientists are working on now.

Because of their unique design that requires less silicon, the colorful panels would cost less to produce that traditional solar tech...meaning that the stained glass industry could be due for a big boon. [GreenSun via Neatorama via DVICE]

Regardless of my lame attempt at snark however, it's nice to know those energy-wasting flatscreen kiosks currently pumping out campy advertising at my local mega mall are dead gadgets walking (these screens work inside and out).

While the ads will remain, obviously, we can take solace in the fact that Mother Earth is going to be violated and pillaged by one less thing. [E-Ink Info]

The recyclable Powerbrella features solar panels on the top of the umbrella and outlets on the bottom to gather that beautiful sun and use it to power your gear. We're not really sure how much juice it could really provide, but it should definitely be enough to power, say, an iPod speaker dock. It's a great idea and one we'd totally use. [via Treehugger]

The new wings, which will be the fourth and final set installed on ISS, will be used to provide 50% more power to run science experiments in space and will enable six people to live in the space station. The new equipment will be delivered by the Space Shuttle Discovery, which launches on Wednesday, and Canadarm2 will assist in the installation. The project should more or less be completed by Flight Day 8. [The Space Fellowship via Slashdot]

The SunCat batteries solve all of these issues while giving the environment a firm pat on the butt by wrapping standard NiMH rechargeable batteries (1.8V) in photo voltaic cells (1.5V). Seen in prototype form here, each battery becomes its own solar trickle charger, constantly topping off its power reserves without ever over charging.

Now if only Duracell, Energizer or some other major manufacturer could swoop in and mass product this idea... [Notes from Knut via OhGizmo!]

The “Self-Energy Converting Sunglasses” concept uses a dye solar cell combined with unspecified nanotech to generate electricity while, presumably, still allowing you to see. The electricity passes through the frames to a port in the back of the glasses. Then a cord runs down your neck to your gadget of choice.

Hopefully by the time someone creates a working production model, we'll be beyond such desperate attempts to charge our portable technology. Or maybe the glasses will at least hide a halfway decent HUD inside. [Yanko]

Palmer, who touched down at UN climate change talks in Poznan, Poland, said the feat proved that solar power was a viable alternative to carbon-based fuel sources. Though to do what Palmer did, you'd need to drive a tiny three-wheeler tugging along a solar array almost as big as the car itself.

While the car probably needs a major redesign (and perhaps some more solar panel breakthroughs) to even inch close to becoming a regular on highways, it did disclose some promising technology. The car reached 55mph speeds and could travel for 300km on a single charge. Through the 17 months on almost non-stop driving, it only broke down twice.

Though this car's adventure is over, Palmer's not ready to give up eco-driving yet. He's planning a trip with six vehicles around the world in 80 days (ha!) that would draw power from hydro, geothermal and wind energy. [BBC]

To create the special silicon, Harvard physicist Eric Mazur shined a super powerful laser onto a silicon wafer. The laser's output briefly matches all the energy produced by the sun falling onto the Earth's entire surface at a given moment in time. To spice the experiment up, he also had researchers apply sulfur hexafluoride, which the semiconductor industry uses to make etchings in silicon for circuitry. Seriously, he did this just for kicks and to secure more funding for an old project.

“I got tired of metals and was worrying that my Army funding would dry up,” he said. “I wrote the new direction into a research proposal without thinking much about it — I just wrote it in; I don’t know why," he said.

The new experiment made the silicon black to the naked eye. Under an electron microscope, however, the dark sheen was revealed to be thousands, if not millions, of tiny spikes. As we said above, those spikes had an amazing effect on the light sensitivity of the wafer. Mazur said the material also absorbs about twice as much visible light as traditional silicon, and can detect infrared light that is invisible to today's silicon detectors.

And there's no change to the manufacturing process, Mazur said, so existing semiconductor facilities can create black silicon without much additional effort or, more importantly, money. [New York Times]

The Solar Taxi gets its juice from a $5,000 solar panel trailer provided by German company Q-Cells. Weather permitting, the trailer provides the Taxi with 60 miles of oompf. Longer runs are powered by a pair of $15,000 250-lb. recyclable batteries from Zebra Battery. They store energy from the sun and from whatever electrical socket Palmer can find at night (it's just like searching for a socket at a conference, but bigger, and people will still manage to trip awkwardly over the cord).

Altogether, Palmer said the rig gets about a 200 mile range between charges. As of this weekend, Palmer and his crew had traveled 27,000 miles across 28 countries, so that's a lot of stop and go driving—or is that charging?

The trip is scheduled to conclude in December, but Palmer won't be finished just yet. He's also in the middle of planning an 80-day solar powered race around the world for sometime in 2009. [ABC News]

Kuepper was awarded two Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, the country's top science award, for iJET. Unfortunately, it seems like the only page that would explain how iJET works is down right now, but Kuepper said it would probably take five years to commercialize the technology and it'll help people in less developed nations to “read at night, keep informed about the world through radio and television and refrigerate life-saving vaccines” without all those nasty CO2 emissions. [The Australian via Treehugger]

Greencore has three versions of its AC system, a fixed one, a portable one with two batteries and another portable with four batteries. All three run on 24 volts DC and have a cooling capacity of 10,200 BTUs and a heating capacity of 13,400 BTUs. According to the company, McDonalds and the US Navy are already on board with testing the units. [Treehugger]

[RoofRay via Treehugger]

From what else I can gather from reading the blurb, Triumph is going into the household energy business. Expect to see a bunch of dome-shaped solar panels on the top of Japanese building soon. [Impress]

Once you place an order, the site will ship one of five off-the-shelf prepackaged solar arrays and dispatch an installation crew to your door. An on-line database tracks local building and permit requirements and sends the necessary forms to you for you to fill out.

This is great news for everyone who has ever wanted to jump on the solar bandwagon, but was afraid to because of the headaches that come from any large home project. The system will also help make everything cheaper, since half of a solar system's costs are from installation hassles.

Unfortunately, the service is limited to California addresses right now, but if business is good, we could probably count on a nationwide roll-out in the near future. [Green Wombat via Wired]

The Mercury News says:

In a typical scenario for a 2.8-kilowatt system, Rive said, a customer with a $150-a-month electric bill before installing solar would end up with a $60-a-month electric bill, an $80 or $90 monthly lease payment to Solar City, and thus "positive cash flow" of as much as $10.

The sheet of solar panels is similar in size and weight to a sheet of plastic wrap But like any breakthrough, this is still in the theoretical stage, as researchers have only simulated the function of the solar cells and design tweaks still need to be made. [Idaho National Laboratory via Eco Geek via Oh Gizmo via New Launches]

The goal is to bring the number of solar installations up from 660 to 10,000 citywide over the course of the next 10 years. So what would it cost for you to go solar under the initiative?

For a typical homeowner in San Francisco, installing a 3-kilowatt, rooftop solar electric system costs $24,000, according to Barry Cinnamon, president of the California Solar Energy Industries Association. Between a $4,000 city rebate, a similar $7,000 refund available through the state and a federal tax credit of $2,000, they would be able to get the price down to $11,000, Cinnamon said.

If that amount were underwritten through a city-backed loan, the costs would be spread out over time and eventually recouped in under a decade through lower electricity bills, he said.

Lenses inside these lightweight trough-like panels direct light to highly efficient solar cells, and the best news is that somehow these Solient guys have figured out how to manufacture these suckers at a price that's half as much as those old-timey solar panels we're using today.

But wait, that ain't nothin' yet—wait until you see the next-generation design, after the jump.

This one is even more sophisticated, because instead of those slats that look like adjustable blinds, this solar array has little rectangular concentrators that can tilt vertically and horizontally, more accurately tracking the sun as its position changes in the sky throughout the day. Solient says this design, due by 2010, will require even fewer solar cells, and the panel itself will cost just a quarter the price of today's solar arrays.

So maybe our dream of going off-grid by 2012 without suffering at all isn't so far-fetched after all. This could be some disruptive technology that will cause us to alter our blueprints once again. Back to the old drawing board, but we mean that in the best possible way. – Charlie White

Solar Power at Half the Cost [Technology review]

The 600 mirrors beam sunlight at the tower, which converts the solar energy into steam. The steam is stored in tanks and used to drive turbines, and before you know it you're powering 6,000 homes. Overall, this is super cool and one lucky BBC reporter even got a tour of the tower. Check out the link, it's worth the read. – Louis Ramirez

Power Station Harnesses Sun's Rays [BBC via Gadget Lab]

Mobile Screens Become Solar Cells [Mad4Mobiles]

This week at Lifehacker: Build yourself a solar-powered wifi booster for the backyard. Your mousing wrist feeling a little achy? Train yourself to mouse lefty (or righty, lefties.) PayPal your buddy your share of the dinner bill with your cell phone. Add encryption to Gmail and sync your Google calendar with your mobile phone or handheld.

Solar-Powered Toyota Prius Project [Treehugger]