Solar energy is hot stuff

Sharp, the world’s number one solar cell producer, has just turned its hand to glass studded with LED lights and cells. Instead of generating enough electricity to run a home, it creates a psychedelic light show at night, powered entirely by the day’s sun: it’s more likely to feature in a photo shoot for Wallpaper* magazine than a Green Party newsletter. Tory leader David Cameron’s cool halo owes much to the solar panels he’s installing on his Notting Hill roof. And I can’t walk down the street wearing my solar backpack without being stopped by fascinated strangers, an experience Graham Hill of the American eco-blog treehugger.com knows well.

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Gadgets like the backpack have certainly played a large part in solar’s image revival. Our appetite for consumer electronics of all sorts has grown hugely over the past few years, with sales totalling a record $135.4bn (£71.4bn) in the US alone last year. With so many gizmos to power, solar suddenly has new uses. When Will Gould, a gadget lover and TV script editor, set off to travel the world for a year, his first purchase was a solar charger for iPods and phones. “I didn’t know when I’d be near a plug socket,” he explains, “and, yes, there’s gadget lust: the Solio I bought has a beautiful flower-like, iPod white design”.

Once a distant technology that sat on roofs and was hard to understand, solar power has become a tool that we can hold in our hands. As John Laumer, a Treehugger contributor, puts it, “seeing is believing”. New gadgets increasingly have solar built-in. Recent outlandish additions include a solar-powered tent, scooter and LED house numbers, while mundane ones like bike lights, torches and radios have been around for years. “Solar bags” that charge anything smaller than a laptop have been particularly popular, and when the hip snow’n’surf brand O’Neill introduced one, it sold out. Even high street store Maplins now sells the Scotty, a relatively cheap (£35) solar charger.

Like other elements of the green revolution – such as furniture and fashion – design has been key. Adam Thacker, from Better Energy Systems,the Solio’s maker, says: “When we first looked at making a renewable-powered charger, it fast became apparent that most stuff was sold by making people feel guilty about their environmental impact. Design is so important. The iPod’s not the best MP3 player out there, but it’s caught people’s imagination because of the way it looks.”

Purchases inspired by design and hands-on experience have gone some way to demolishing ignorance about solar power. Contrary to popular myth, solar cells don’t need direct sunlight to produce electricity, and Britain’s actually quite well located for the sun. Sharp’s research says that if every single building in the UK was roofed with solar panels, we’d generate more than the UK’s present industrial and residential electricity consumption – there’d be no need for gas, nuclear, coal or even wind power.

Clearly, some of us are waking up to the benefits of making our own electricity at home. Solarcentury, a company promoting solar in the UK, has seen sales to its residential installers – the teams that fit solar panels on homes – double between 2005 and 2006. Donnachadh McCarthy, who offers “eco audits” from his solar-powered south London home, thinks the Cameron effect shouldn’t be ignored.

“He’s definitely made solar sexy. Lately, I’ve had several rich, naturally Tory, clients who want solar, and their genuine motivation is to reduce carbon emissions,” he says. “But there are a host of other reasons. One family was concerned about its lighting going off in the case of an energy emergency or oil crisis.”

There’s also a practical, very British reason for our interest in solar: money. With the average household’s electricity bill above £900 (and set to rise again with British Gas’s latest price rises), solar panels start to make sense at £4,000, after you’ve received a government grant available for installation. They can add value, too. When two new homes in Norfolk sold recently, the one with solar PV roof tiles by Solarcentury sold for 8.6% more than its neighbour. Energy efficiency ratings in next year’s home information packs, grants of up to £3,000 and imminent improved planning laws should help further.

Solar may suddenly be cool, but there are reasons for pause. The recent government energy review contained little concrete promotion of solar, and the scale of what’s been achieved can be overstated. As McCarthy points out, “only 100 solar PV installs have happened in London since 1999, so it’s perhaps a bit early to say it’s truly trendy.” Plus the price of fitting solar on your home is unlikely to drop soon, since silicon – the raw material in solar cells – is currently in high demand. Sharp, however, is working to keep prices down by slicing the silicon used in cells even thinner than today’s 180 microns.

Still, the forecast looks bright for solar. Cameron’s celebrity power shouldn’t be underestimated, our growing gadget energy use – expected to double by 2010 – should ensure cheap green alternatives’ success, and ethical living is in fashion. If you’re making fairtrade, organic and green choices in other areas of your life, solar’s the next obvious step. Besides, as the thronged parks and high streets of summer prove, we Brits love anything to do with the sun.