Photon International Magazine reported on a conference of solar cell companies held in April 2007 according to the second quarter report of the New Alternatives Fund, one of my vast and extremely lucrative investments (or so I hope).

The conclusions of the report were that silicon supply growth is coming on faster than anticipated, costs are coming down faster than expected, and global demand is more robust than expected.

I finally took the opportunity to visit the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York this week to see their exhibit of affordable technology, what we used to call appropriate technology or intermediate technology back in the day.  The exhibit is titled Design for the Other 90% and includes, my favorite, the pot-in-pot sand and clay evaporative cooler.  

A friend from the climate change trenches, wrote me about his experience with window reflectors and summer cooling after reading Old Solar:  Venetian Vernacular.  He adapted the idea of car windshield reflectors to some of his sunniest windows using foamboard, cardboard, and aluminized mylar.

Witold Rybczynski, who has been part of the history of green architecture for the last thirty or so years, has a good slide show on the subject at:
http://www.slate.com/...

The Spanish toy company Imaginarium has stores in Europe, Asia, and South and Central America.  They are now offering a set of renewable energy toys:

DESIGN FOR THE OTHER 90% is on view at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, corner of 91st Street and Fifth Avenue, New York City, through September 23, 2007.