Solar Power Gets Sexy

polandese's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Solar power is a fantastic way to bring renewable energy into your house and save money on electricity bills, but the bulky panels typically used to capture the sun's rays have never been particularly sexy; until now!  Increasingly U.S. companies are developing aesthetically appealing alternatives to the rooftop rectangles, by creating shingles, tiles and other building materials that contain photovoltaic cells to generate solar power.

Okay, so maybe "sexy" is taking it a bit far, but by making solar technology more discreet and design-friendly, chances are more people are likely to get on board with green power (That is, once the economy starts to rebound and people are building or renovating homes). 

The next key step will be to establish more government incentives for homeowners and businesses to utilize photovoltaic roofing and other renewable alternatives, because for now they remain a bit out of many people's price range.  Europe, not too surprisingly, is a bit ahead of us with offering incentives and paying people for excess energy they feed back into the grid, but we'll get there soon enough (assuming China doesn't beat us).  And let's get serious, when the utility company is paying you money, now that's going to be sexy.