TOLEDO, Ohio -- One piece of the American effort to find a way to make solar energy cheap enough that everyone will want it is unfolding in a modest redbrick building in this Midwestern city once known as one of the nation's top makers of glass.
Xunming Deng, a physicist, started a solar company in Ohio eight years ago as a spinoff from his research at the University of Toledo. He's attracted $40 million in venture capital, and designed and purchased manufacturing equipment. He now thinks that his Xunlight Corp. is on the brink of profitability and fast growth. It expects certification this spring and is getting ready to ramp up production.
Deng's story reflects one of the innovative approaches that U.S. thin-film photovoltaic solar companies are taking to bring down the costs of solar installations for homes, businesses and utilities. All aim for a mass market with economies of scale that make solar energy comparable in price to energy from fossil fuels.
Several of these companies are in Toledo, part of the legacy of the late Harold McMaster, a glass innovator who started a solar company that later became First Solar, which now employs about 1,000 people just outside Toledo.
"The way I envision it is that someday solar will penetrate the market and go to everybody's home," much the way cell phones and personal computers did, Deng said. "I feel that one day our energy platform will be much more renewable, and we want to be a big part of it."
The widespread use of solar that Deng envisions could help the U.S. reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases from coal and natural gas. It also could help provide clean energy that electrifies vehicles, reducing the country's $350 billion annual bill for foreign oil.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/14/v-fullstory/1528746/us-firms-working-to-lower-cost.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
