DF Cast: Recycling Materials to Grab the Sun’s Power

John Davis

df-logoSolar energy holds great promise for this nation: it’s practically always there, it doesn’t produce greenhouse gases, and it’s free. But production of the materials used to capture the power of the sun is not always a green proposition … and they’re certainly not free!

BioSolarThat’s where BioSolar comes in. The Los Angeles area-based company has found a way to use some recycled materials and non-food sources to make one of the key components of a solar panel – the backsheet – now commonly made from petroleum products.

In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, I talk to David Lee, CEO of BioSolar about how they are using recycled cotton and castor bean oil not only to make the material from something other than non-renewable oil, but also make it for about 25 percent less than conventional methods … making solar energy green for the environment and green for the pocketbook.

It’s quite an interesting process, and you can hear my conversation with David here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/domesticfuel/DFCast-12-17-09.mp3]

You can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast here.

Audio, Domestic Fuel Cast, Solar