Looks like a comprehensive site for a wide variety of useful solar devices http://www.earthtechproducts.com

An elegant if not (currently) cost effective idea…

13:59 07 March 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Michael Marshall

A lick of solar-power paint could see the roofs and walls of warehouses and other buildings generate electricity from the sun, if research by UK researchers pays off. The scientists are developing a way to paint solar cells onto the steel sheets commonly used to clad large buildings.

Steel sheets are painted rapidly in steel mills by passing them through rollers. A consortium led by Swansea University, UK, hopes to use that process to cover steel sheets with a photovoltaic paint at up to 40 square metres per minute.

The paint will be based on dye-sensitised solar cells. Instead of absorbing sunlight using silicon like conventional solar panels, they use dye molecules attached to particles of the titanium dioxide pigment used in paints.

From NewScientistTech

from PhysOrg

One year ago shipping one container across the Pacific ocean cost about $3,000 - today (early June, 2008), shipping that same container costs about $8,000. That got me thinking about a probable resurgence of manufacturing here in the US, and the idea that I might get involved in making something other than software… leads me to ask a number of exciting questions, and as this article’s heading implies, I’m not alone, and it’s been asked before (I’d been aware of Ted Sargent’s work at the University of Toronto for some time), but that’s ok, I’m looking for answers…

Ted Sargent is a pioneer in solar science. He’s working on solar technology that could literally be woven into every aspect of daily life, from our clothes to our roads, using what is known as a spray-on solar cell. The implications for our energy systems are profound. As Ted says, “Solar energy is not just an exciting science problem, but an incredibly important human problem.”

Audio: Mary Wiens talks to Ted Sargent (runs 7:48) REAL WINDOWS QUICKTIME

From CBC Toronto