US consumers warm to solar energy's potential

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=vn20051028063003590C719734
US consumers warm to solar energy's potential
October 28 2005 at 01:49AM
Washington - At first glance, it was a routine dinner gathering, a variant of a ritual that unfolds in households every evening.
On a recent rainy night, Austin Quig-Hartman leaned over a pan of veggie burgers sizzling on the range and poked at some garlic potatoes in the oven beneath.
"A little California cuisine," said Quig-Hartman, a student at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, flipping burgers as his classmates watched hungrily.
But this was dinner with a twist.
Every watt of power used to cook the meal and power every light bulb, refrigerator and iPod in this house came from an array of solar panels perched atop its roof, which offered commanding views of the Washington Monument and United States Capitol.
Quig-Hartman and teammates were among 18 university teams from the US, Canada and Spain gathered at the 2005 Solar Decathlon on Washington's National Mall, competing to build and operate small homes that derive all their energy from the sun's infinite supply.
A looming 1970s-style energy crisis and soaring petrol prices have sparked renewed interest in solar power, which until now has been in an extended infancy in the US since it was invented in 1954 by Bell Labs.
Sponsored primarily by the US energy department, the contest is designed to showcase currently available solar technology and show it is possible to live comfortably today in a house powered by solar energy.
University of Colorado at Boulder's "BioShip" - built from farm-grown products like soybeans, corn, wheat and chocolate - won the competition, which was last held in 2002 but will now become an annual event.
Cornell University took second place, and Cal Poly was third, though no prize money is awarded.
Entries can be viewed at www.solardecathlon.org.
Solar accounts for only one percent of the energy consumed in the US, the world's biggest energy user. Costs for the typical residential solar array are around $25 000 (R165 000) and falling.
Solar-powered homes allow owners to reduce their emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases linked with global warming.
Over half of the power carried by the US grid comes from coal-powered generators that spew carbon dioxide into the air.
The US is the biggest global greenhouse gas emitter. - Reuters