If you have solar panels on your house, you can count on reducing your electricity bill. Maybe you’ll pay nothing at all. But what if you produce more than you use? Well, until recently in California, you could consider it a gift to the local utility. But now, thanks to a new law, that will soon change. Amy Standen reports.
Hoping to leave today's silicon solar cells behind, the Palo Alto company Nanosolar is creating paper-thin solar panels harnessing nanotechnology, a product that could revolutionize solar power.
With the race on to reduce global warming and fossil fuel dependency, experts in alternative energy see a bright future for renewable resources like wind, solar, hydro-power and geothermal energy. QUEST and Climate Watch team up to look at the "Smart Grid" of the future and how it might be improved to more cleanly and efficiently keep the lights on in California.
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Major funding is provided by the National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation, and The Amgen Foundation. Additional support is provided by the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, Ann S. Bowers - The Robert Noyce Trust, the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, and the Vadasz Family Foundation.
