Applied Materials (AMAT)

[gottfried]

"Cost of Solar Panels Lower Than Ever, Americans Optimistic about Future of Technology

Global Installed Solar Power Doubled in 2010"

http://investors.appliedmaterials.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=112059&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1576171&highlight=

http://tinyurl.com/3rwhzch

The cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels has dropped 70 percent since 2008, from $4 per watt to $1.25 per watt this year, and is expected to reach $1 per watt in the next couple of years. As a result, electricity produced by solar PV panels will cost the same as traditional sources of residential power in 19 countries, including Italy and Spain and Brazil, and California by the end of 2011.

Applied Materials forecasts that by the year 2020, more than 100 countries - representing 98 percent of the world's population, 99.7 percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product and 99.2 percent of energy-related CO2 emissions - will have access to solar power at the same cost as current residential power.