Tim, I just read an excellent article in a July issue of Science.  It 
describes the presence state of the art in amorphous solar cells.
  
With two different technologies universities got 18% efficiency.  It is 
frustrating ,though, because there still is not too much interest in funding 
big production.  I've seen some of the vacuum deposition etc. methods used in 
a lab.  Gone are the days you could set up a big boiling cauldron of cadmium 
etc. and figure out the details as you developed the process.
I read an account of the first pacemaker.  The guy made them in his garage 
and his wife tested them in the bedroom.  It is amazing to see how technology 
has managed to progress with all the weight of today's world.
  
It is so enticeing - the article quoted a price per watt of .50  .  I'd sure 
rather see dollars dumped into this to get the production levels good, rather 
than blown up in some war protecting oil reserves.  I guess it depends if the 
utilities will risk developing it.  Then it would take years before they 
could "tricle down" to individual users.
                                        Cathy
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