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ScienceDaily: Solar Energy News

• Cotton is the fabric of your lights, your MP3 player, your cell phone
  Consider this T-shirt: It can monitor your heart rate and breathing, analyze your sweat and even cool you off on a hot summer's day. Or a solar-powered dress that can charge your MP3 player? This is not science fiction -- this is cotton in 2010. […]
• New energy source from the common pea: Scientists create a solar energy device from a plant protein structure
  Isolating the minute crystals of the PSI super complex from the pea plant, a biochemistry researcher suggests these crystals can be illuminated and used as small battery chargers or form the core of more efficient man-made solar cells. […]
• Trapping sunlight with silicon nanowires
  Researchers have found a better way to trap light in photovoltaic cells through the use of vertical arrays of silicon nanowires. This could substantially cut the costs of solar electric power by reducing the quantity and quality of silicon needed for efficient solar panels. […]
• Intelligent energy management for the home
  In order to save energy, consumers need to be able to obtain up-to-date information at any time about the energy consumption of their appliances, and be able to control them while away from home. Scientists have developed two new applications that help consumers manage their power use. […]
• Neighborhood grids promise energy gains
  Researchers are creating technology that will treat neighborhoods like a miniature power grid, sharing energy generated at each house according to need. Allied to a host of other developments, the concept promises huge energy savings. […]