QUOTE
Sampath has developed a continuous, automated manufacturing process for solar panels using glass coating with a cadmium telluride thin film instead of the standard high-cost crystalline silicon. Because the process produces high efficiency devices (ranging from 11 percent to 13 percent) at a very high rate and yield, it can be done much more cheaply than with existing technologies. The cost to the consumer could be as low as $2 per watt, about half the current cost of solar panels, and competitive with cost of power from the electrical grid in many parts of the world. In addition, this solar technology need not be tied to a grid, so it can be affordably installed and operated in nearly any location.
Sampath has spent the past 16 years perfecting the technology and patiently waiting for the market for solar technology to mature. In that time, annual global sales of photovoltaic technology have grown to approximately 2 gigawatts or two billion watts - roughly a $6 billion industry. Demand has increased nearly 40 percent a year for each of the past five years - a trend that analysts and industry experts expect to continue.
By 2010, solar cell manufacturing is expected to be a $25 billion-plus industry.
http://www.avasolar.com/news/pressDisplay.php?i=12other data:
appliance energy use stats
http://www.city.ames.ia.us/ElectricWeb/ene.../appliances.htmemissions calculator
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions...calculator.html
