Solar Power

First I should state that I'm encouraged by all the visitors here and I appreciate every Watt of power that's conserved, instead of wasted! But I've gotta ask...

Where is everyone else? Are the rest of the people really that disconnected? Do they just not care? Do the simply not understand?

I'm simply running out of steam to continue the fight. Somebody, please come tag my out. Is there anyone out there that knows someone that's willing to take the plunge and invest in the technology?

I own a 1930's home in Florida. Yet I cannot find anyone who knows how to do this, yet on the news the other day, a 14 year old was smart enough to build a system to power up items in his room. He then made a bet with his dad that if he did that, that his dad would let him do the house.....which they have done. The kids school heard about this and now the school is done!!! I am pretty convinced that I too, can get this done but by who? Where do I begin?

I am doing research on building a combination PV & wind turbine powered system to power a home for my senior design project for school. I also plan to build one for my home. Can anyone recommend any good books on the subject? Im looking for a detailed book, perhaps examples of actual built systems, procedures, spceifiactions, etc. Thanks in advance...

Frank

I live in San Antonio Texas and in the process of designing my home.  I want to know more about how I can implement solar power into my home without breaking the bank.  Solar Panels and/or Solar Shingles?  Where do I start?  How much could this cost me?  Are there any Federal Tax breaks for Texas residents like they have for California and Arizona residents? 

help me to be free

wondering which would be best a dc fridge ,would cost $2000 more, or propane fridge? i will have propane at site but who knows what propane prices and availability will be in future. the dc fridge would be very hard on budget.

Solar Thermal projects have proven to be the best for large utilities. I have Solar PV panels at my home but for a large centrally located power system solar thermal is much better. They can even use the same sstem at night run by CNG or Hydrogen.

   Some of the best project have been the LUZ plants in California and Solar Power Towers also in CA. In Arizona we just had a big utility, APS build a very modern Solar Thermal plant in Saguaro AZ. It was put into service on April 22. That's Earth Day , how perfect.

NanoSolar and their breakthrough $1/W solar panels... Yet the company is hush-hush on the topic.

They claim that the first years' production is spoken for and that the waiting list is getting longer.

I have to admit that if the claims are true, then I have a problem; the world would benefit but my company would be left out in the cold... Actually we wouldn't!

Several pundits have asked: "If this is really happening, where's the media, the press, the excitement?". So I'll ask the same question.

With high Oil prices of close to $100 a barrel and pollution concerns along with global warming and new carbon trading laws solar PV makers stocks are really up.

I just saw where First Solar FSLR jumped to $224 a share. It was around $10 at the start of the year. They are sold out to Germany for all they produce for the next 2 years. Most panels are made in Japan or Europe and even China. These are made in Ohio, in the USA !

Starting to research a panel system for my home and was wondering if there were any online stores that sell panels, etc.

thx!