Tech Titans Up the Solar-Power Ante

Microsoft and Google aren't just facing off in the software arena. The two tech giants are also going tit for tat when it comes to solar power. The Microsoft gang made a strong showing last year when it took the wraps off thousands of solar panels at its Mountain View complex, only to have Google rain on Redmond's parade with a new—and gargantuan—network of solar panels, which blankets its competing Mountain View campus and dwarfs Microsoft's still-laudable solar efforts. But hey—a little competition just might help the long-simmering solar power industry take off in a big way.

Google's recent solar undertaking sounds truly impressive. As described to Ars Technica by Google facilities project coordinator Anthony Ravitz, the project involved about 9,200 solar panels covering rooftops and parking lots across the entire complex, satisfying about 30 percent of Google's peak power needs. Overall, the 1.6-megawatt installation represents the largest commercial use of solar power in the country, capable of lighting about 1,000 California homes at any given time.

Meanwhile, Microosoft's solar infrastructure, which powers about 15 percent of its Mountain View facility, is nothing to sniff at. Unveiled last April for Earth Day 2006, the system boasts more than 2,200 solar panels and yields about 480 kilowatts on a sunny day (hence, no solar project in cloudy Redmond), which is good for powering about 500 homes.

Sounds like great news on the solar power front, but the reality is that installing solar-panel installations on the scale of Google and Microsoft is a pricey enterprise. Google's Ravitz told Ars Technica that the company only carried through with the solar undertaking thanks to subsidies from area power companies and a big, fat tax credit from Uncle Sam. Indeed, while the cost of solar power has dropped about 4 percent a year for the past 15 years (according to industry site Solarbuzz), solar energy still can't compete with traditional energy sources, such as fossil fuels.

Still, it looks like solar is gaining some much-needed momentum. While tech behemoths like Google and Microsoft duke it out for the solar-power crown, you've got the story of a Colorado developer who's building a solar-powered, 42-house neighborhood in the city of Westminster. Texas Instruments is reportedly working on a chip that could help cell phones and other handheld gadgets run off solar energy. In New Zealand, researchers are developing synthetic dyes that will allow solar cells to generate plenty of juice without direct sunlight. And then there's the solar-powered catamaran that recently carried a crew of Swiss sailor across the Atlantic. I'd say the future of solar power is—get ready for the pun—looking bright.