I've been seeing this for the last 8 years, who knows when it will change from vaporware to hardware.

http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle ... leID=14932

"A method developed at Colorado State University for crafting solar panels has been developed to the point where they are nearly ready for mass production. Professor W.S. Sampath's technique has resulted in a low-cost, high-efficiency process for creating the panels, which will soon be fabricated by a commercial interest. 'Produced at less than $1 per watt, the panels will dramatically reduce the cost of generating solar electricity and could power homes and businesses around the globe with clean energy for roughly the same cost as traditionally generated electricity. Sampath has developed a continuous, automated manufacturing process for solar panels using glass coating with a cadmium telluride thin film instead of the standard high-cost crystalline silicon. Because the process produces high efficiency devices (ranging from 11% to 13%) at a very high rate and yield, it can be done much more cheaply than with existing technologies.'"

Even if one of these vaporware firms could make panels for a buck a watt, thin film is nothing like silicon wafer panels for longevity.

So if it only lasts one quarter the lifetime but costs on quarter as much, it still costs more as the labor to replace panels is signifigant

I would never put my dollars into buying any thinfilm product until they show it will last for REAL 25+ years and some new process needs years of real world testing to prove it can hold upto real world enviroment, not some press release to get venture funding