Solar Power Conference 2006 - Part 1

This week I'm out at the Solar Power 2006 Conference in San Jose. I'm going to do my best to keep some kind of running commentary.

Day 1 - After a whole lotta travling, capped off by the fools at the Travelodge botching up my reservation, I finally got a place to dump my stuff and rest my head before heading to the opening reception. Plenty of folks talking german, plenty of geeky solar wonks with cool exhibits, and plenty of showroom girls with bikinis made out of little solar panels... okay, I made that last one up, but you get my point. It's a solar guru's wet dream.

Here's one of the cooler things I saw tonight - a company in California that's found a way to maximize the output of silicon solar cells by using these magnifying glass-type crystals (didn't talk to him long enough to get a more technical description just yet)

...Still adjusting to the time difference... need to get some sleep... more tomorrow.

A few other good photos:

Top- Solar Cells manufactured by Q-Cells in Thalheim, Germany - the second largest solar cell manufacturer in the world (Sharp is #1).

Bottom - A solar thermal heating module