Word: solarization
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...shines on everyone - but not in equal measure. That reality has long slowed the spread of solar power. Depending on where you live in the country - or even where you live in your city - the same array of photovoltaic solar panels can produce enough electricity to power your house with watts to spare, or barely cut a nickel from your utility bill. It all comes down to the precise amount of sunlight that hits your roof. But while we all know that San Antonio gets more sunny days than Seattle, what about one part of San Antonio compared to another...
...that could be changing. The engineering company CH2M Hill is now joining hands with the U.S. Department of Energy to provide Internet solar maps of 25 American cities, using Google Earth technology to chart the precise solar potential of neighborhoods, literally rooftop by rooftop. The company has just finished mapping all of San Francisco, allowing residents to enter their address and take the solar measure of their own home. "People in San Francisco think we don't have any solar potential,' says Gavin Newsom, the city's deep-green mayor. "But the map shows we have a lot more...
...Newsom knows the challenges of going solar in a first-hand way. The mayor is in a well-publicized fight over his right to install solar panels, doing battle with his own housing community, which is against solar power on aesthetic grounds. Most San Francisco residents have things easier, and that's thanks to Newsom and CH2M. Click on the San Francisco solar map website - sf.solarmap.org - and you'll get a Google Earth-eye view of the entire city, from the Sunset District to North Beach. CH2M Hill has already labeled all 925 existing solar systems throughout the city, including...
...stop shop for solar power,' says Johanna Partin, San Francisco's renewable energy program manger. If you can't get solar power with the help of the CH2M Hill map, you're just not trying very hard...
...fire, the smart money is probably on the way out. As they like to say in the investing business, past performance is no guarantee of future results. All you have to do it take a look at some of last year's biggest percentage gainers to understand that. Solar-panel maker First Solar, which rose more than 700% last year, has lost more than half its value so far in 2008. Fertilizer manufacturer Mosaic, which last year saw its stock triple amid the commodities boom, is down 67% since January, as boom has morphed into bust. Chasing winners is rarely...