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Solar Energy

While it only represents one half of one percent of the renewable electric capacity in the U.S.(2008), solar energy is probably the best known with solar panels seen on space missions and roofs around town (actually, a fairly rare sight in the U.S.) When they think of solar, people think photovoltaics (PV). They are the panels that directly transform sunlight into electricity. Very clean, very simple. You bolt them on the roof and hook them up. The whole concept is straight forward and appealing. You can have a few panels on your roof in a distributed generation approach in which you consume the electricity you generate locally, or your utility can purchase electric power from a solar plant somewhere in the Southwest deserts.

For such centralized power plants, photovoltaic panels are increasingly challenged by solar thermal or Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants which use the heat of the sun to turn

steam turbines that generate electricity. Recent advances in technology, such as thermal storage, and successful demonstration projects have spawned a wave of interest and new project funding in CSP.

The two largest traditional drawbacks of solar power, intermittency (daylight does not last 24 hours per day) and high costs, are significantly reduced by the new technologies. This in turn is opening new investment opportunities in unsuspected corners of the market.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) puts the 2008 installed U.S. solar capacity at 9.2 gigawatts, which includes the non-electric generation capacity, namely solar thermal used for water and space heating, some 16 times higher than the electric generation numbers by the government (EIA).

Suggested reading:

List of publicly traded solar energy companies and stocks
(note that the tickers are links to Yahoo!Finance quotes)

Solar stock ticker symbol	Solar company names	Solar company website addresses
	Abengoa Solar
	Acciona, SA
	Akeena Solar, Inc.
	Applied Materials Inc.
	Ascent Solar Technologies Inc.
	Canadian Solar Inc.
	Carmanah Tech Corp.
	China Sunergy Company Ltd.
	DayStar Technologies Inc.
	EMCORE Corp.
	Energy Conversion Devices Inc.
	Entech Solar, Inc.
	Evergreen Solar Inc.
	First Solar Inc.
	GT Solar International Inc.
	Hoku Scientific, Inc.
	JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (ADS)
	LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (ADS)
	MEMC Electronic Materials Inc.
	Q-Cells SE
	Real Goods Solar, Inc.
	ReneSola Ltd (ADS)
	Sharp Corporation Ltd. (ADR)
	Solar Millennium AG
	Solarfun Power Holdings Co. Ltd.- ADR
	SolarWorld AG
	SunPower Corporation
	Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (ADS)
	Trina Solar Ltd. (ADS)
	XSunX Inc.
	Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (ADS)

Note that this list of solar energy companies is not exhaustive, is not a list of stocks in The Green Investor Portfolio or represent a buy recommendation.

Solar energy information resources

Solar organizations	Solar organization website addresses
American solar energy society
Solar energy industries association SEIA

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