panels

Premier Gardens is one of a half-dozen subdivisions in California where every home cuts power consumption by 50%, mostly by using low-power appliances and solar panels.

Aside from the panels on the roof, Premier Gardens looks like a community of conventional homes

Placed in an insulated (隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can withstand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉.

As solar panels get cheaper, the world is likely to see more skyscrapers covered in solar panels, collecting energy much like trees do.

France isn't the first country to kick around the idea of paving its roads with solar panels.

However, this is the first time a panel has been designed to be laid directly on top of existing roads and the first project to install the panels on public highways.

In 2004, the completed CIS tower became Europe's largest collection of vertical solar panels.

In November 2015, the Netherlands completed a 229-foot-long bike path paved with solar panels as a test for future projects.

Last week, France announced that the country will pave 621 miles of road with solar panels over the next five years, with the goal of providing cheap, renewable energy to five million people.

The company spent the last five years developing solar panels that are only about a quarter of an inch thick and are strong enough to stand up to heavy highway traffic without breaking or making the roads more slippery.

The panels are also designed so that they can be installed directly on top of existing roadways, making them relatively cheap and easy to install.

His not-for-profit organization runs 100 river boats that serve as floating libraries, schools, and health clinics, and are equipped with solar panels and other communicating facilities.

The cost of solar panels has dropped by 80 percent and the cost of wind turbines by close to one-third in the past eight years.