| Photovoltaic solar panels are being used in more than | | | | include photovoltaic panels on its roof. Park your car |
| just calculators and on roofs in 2010. Costs continue | | | | and retract the protective covering, and you can run |
| to drop, and improvements in strength and weight | | | | your air conditioning with the engine off. Toyota says |
| have led to such improvements as ultra thin solar | | | | the new feature will save energy by preventing the |
| panels. These and other factors have lead to some | | | | car from heating up while parked, which will in turn |
| new and interesting solar panel uses in 2010. | | | | reduce the energy needed to cool the car back off |
| It is pretty common to see solar panels on | | | | when driving resumes. |
| recreational vehicles, powering the TV and air | | | | One of my personal favorite new solar panel techs is |
| conditioning, or on wireless lawn lights stuck in the | | | | solar roof shingles. These shingles do not generate as |
| ground. One new application in 2010 will be covering | | | | much power as the bigger traditional panels, but they |
| our countries landfills. Republic Services, one of our | | | | look awesome and are quite simple to install. |
| nation's largest waste disposal companies has installed | | | | Another cool thing is the many DIY solar panel plans |
| landfill covers equipped with photovoltaic panels at its | | | | and homemade clean energy systems out there. I |
| Tessman Road landfill in San Antonio, Texas. | | | | think my favorite as far as ease of installation has to |
| Combined with its existing waste-to-energy system, | | | | be the solar hot water panel, just stick some copper |
| the facility produces 9 megawatts of power, enough | | | | coiling in an airtight box and you're done. I don't know |
| energy to power 5,500 homes. | | | | about you, but I can't wait to see what new solar |
| Another neat use this year will be in Toyota's new | | | | tech the rest of the year brings. |
| Solar Roof Prius. The highly acclaimed hybrid will now | | | | |