UC Report: Current solar technology 'a loser'

February 21, 2008

The photovoltaic panels now in popular use for solar power generation are not worth their cost, according to a U.C. Berkeley report.

Severin Borenstein, director of the U.C. Energy Institute and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley's business school, called existing technology "a loser" in a research paper. "We are throwing money away by installing the current solar PV technology," he said.

Borenstein calls for more state and federal money to be spent on research into better technology, rather than on subsidies for residential solar power systems.

San Francisco Business Times - by Steven E.F. Brown

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