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http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg What will it take to make solar electricity cheaper than grid power? (http://news.cnet.com/greentech/?keyword=1366+Technologies)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/New_Homes_-_Solar_Panel_Install.jpgMartin LaMonica - Cnet (http://news.cnet.com) - Mar. 06, 2009

I guess the heat is on for very cheap energy…

What will it take to make solar electricity cheaper than grid power?

The 20 employees at 1366 Technologies, a solar start-up in Lexington, Mass., say they have the answer, and it's within sight. Rather than pursue one technology breakthrough, the company is hammering away at the cost of solar with a series of incremental improvements. The target is to cut the cost of making silicon cells in half to get below $1 per watt by 2012.

1366 Technologies, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off, is the subject of a profile, "Making solar cheaper than coal." It's the third installment of CNET News' "Green Tech at a Crossroads" special report.

For the first two articles, see "In search of the Google of green tech" and "They got their green-tech bill. So now what?"

It's a small company, but 1366 Technologies has assembled an impressive team, according to Michael Rogol of solar-consulting firm Photon Consulting. Frank van Mierlo, the company's president, boasts that 35 percent of its employees have a Ph.D. and that combined, its staff holds more than 100 years of solar-photovoltaic industry experience.
Among those Ph.D.s is Chief Technical Officer Emmanuel (Ely) Sachs, an MIT professor of mechanical engineering. He developed the original lab work that 1366 Technologies is commercializing. To the right is a clip of my interview with Sachs and van Mierlo.

Like many people who work in the green-tech industry, Sachs and van Mierlo chose to work in solar because they want to make a difference in some of the world's big problems … http://news.cnet.com/greentech/?keyword=1366+Technologies

Honestly, the American public doesn't give a $%&*@! how much it costs to produce something. We really only care about how much of our money you want to charge us to purchase said product. If the solar "industry" wants to sell panels to every man, woman, and child in America, they need to change only one thing-- their way of thinking.

Bill Gates is a once every 200 year phenomenon, so it will still be ~175 years before the next person becomes a multi-billionaire almost overnight. In other words, as long as the final prices on your largest panels (which have the lowest cost/watt) are ~$5/watt, you can keep them. In the meantime, I'll continue to buy quality panels for $3/watt, and hope that your business does what all business models that thought too highly of themselves do, file for bankruptcy.

/rant :)