Inside Renewable Energy Is Organic PV the Future of Solar? Maybe.

Imagine a world in which your clothes, your electronics and your windows can generate electricity. With all the innovation we're seeing in solar these days, that world does not seem very far away. Just don't expect your next pair of jeans to charge your iphone. Many types of third generation solar PV technologies have moved remarkably fast from the lab to early commercialization. But many experts question how ready these technologies are for prime time. In this podcast, we'll look at one type – organic PV – and assess the performance of the technology. Alan Heeger, Nobel Prize winner and co-founder of the organic PV company Konarka, tells us about how his work with semiconducting polymers has spawned a generation of solar inks and plastics. Peter Fairley, a cleantech journalist and author, provides some context for these next-generation cells. While he feels the technologies offer great potential, he's skeptical about many of the claims that companies are making about production and performance. Finally, Tor Valenza of Unthink Solar joins us to talk about the effort to put solar back on the White House. To learn more about signing the petition, go to SolarOnTheWhiteHouse.com. Inside Renewable Energy is a weekly audio news program featuring stories and interviews on all the latest developments in the renewable energy industries.