Fire & Ice Solar Hot Water Heater and Air Conditioning

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The solar electrical power industry may be ready for its moment in the sun. It's still true that solar sources generate less than 1% of total U.S. electricity vs. the 70% generated from industrial-age fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gas.But energy price spikes in 2001, 2005 and 2008 spurred states and the federal government to explore alternatives to fossil fuels. Solar stocks soared alongside rising oil prices in 2008.But solar has a fickle history of rising, then disappearing from view — often for what seems decades. This time is different, some industry watchers contend. "In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a technology issue," said Mike Taylor, director of research with the Solar Energy Power Association. "(Photovoltaic) solar wasn't ready for prime time commercialization." government-led energy initiatives in Japan through the 1990s fostered development of solar technologies and manufacturing. Spain and Germany picked up the baton, installing large-scale solar facilities over the past several years.Now the industry appears set for another leap. The bulk of that is occurring in China, a country moving aggressively onto the solar-energy stage.The U.S. also is creeping forward, as federal and state incentives lure utilities and larger commercial entities onto the scene.The largest solar complex in the country is underway in Los Angeles, where a Southern California Edison project targets 500 megawatts of capacity within five years. In 2006, the bill that launched the state's Million Solar Roofs plan mandated that renewable resources produce 20% of California's electrical power by 2010. In 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger boosted that mandate to 33% by 2020 in an executive order. Those are aggressive goals, says Mark Ulrich, vice president of renewable and alternative power with Southern California Edison. "To reach them we are going to need to do projects that are distributed amongst our electric grid," Ulrich said.The SCE project puts large, commercial rooftops to work. The utility will own half the solar sites. The other half will be built and paid for by independent contractors. SCE will buy the facilities from those contractors over a 20-year period. The project saves the utility from having to fund and build transmission lines to remote solar generation farms. It also sidesteps legal costs. "When we use rooftops, we don't run into ecological issues," Ulrich said. 1. Business Most of the 25 companies in the Energy-Solar group manufacture components and systems based on photovoltaic cells. Those cells translate photons into electrons. Most are made from polysilicon wafers, essentially the same raw material used for semiconductor chips.