A note on solar

Tee Bee and Marcus are making my head spin with their multiple syllable words, so I'm not going to get in over my head here. I did want to point out this Slate article on solar power, particularly these little tidbits:

In the last two years, the price of polysilicon, the basic material for most panels that turn photons from the sun into electricity, has more than tripled because of voracious overseas demand. Polysilicon is made from silica, a mineral that's cheap but that must be refined and processed. If the new subsidies were delayed by a couple of years, there would be time for new polysilicon factories to come online, and the government and solar-eager homeowners would save a big chunk of money.
...
Solar panels will probably be at least 20 percent cheaper in two years, according to Scott Sklar, president of the Stella Group, a solar consulting firm.
...
Another reason to wait out the polysilicon price bubble is that the high prices are doing wonders for alternative solar-power technologies that use less polysilicon—or none at all. Several recent scientific advances have brought other materials to the efficiency levels of polysilicon. The competitor that's closest to market—some production has already started—is the thin-film photovoltaic cell. It uses an alloy of copper, indium, gallium, and diselenide instead of polysilicon, and it can be made on flexible rolls, which means that it's cheaper to produce than a polysilicon cell. Shell Solar, one of the biggest producers of photovoltaic cells, recently sold its polysilicon-cell business and bet its entire future on this new technology.

There ya go, that's my contribution to the discussion. Read the whole thing.