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Whilst numerous energy experts place grasshopper like pumps across the landscape to draw fossil fuel to the surface others are dotting the landscape with massive windmills. However, one maverick California business is hinting that inexpensive balloons could perhaps be the true future of energy.

Cool Earth Solar, Livermore California; has produced eight-foot plastic balloons which its creators believe will transform the way the world thinks about energy.

The proof may be strongly scrutinized in the next few years as Cool Earth installs a small power plant online using balloons fitted with solar receptors. The first plant is perceived to produce 250,000 watts of electricity from the balloons that resemble an eight-foot wide Mylar party balloons. The first plant is scheduled to be open by the end of the year.

The next stage in their global solar outlook is for a 1.5 million watt plant to be developed in Tracy, California. Cool Earth fully intends to go global.

Company officials indicate the plastic material used in developing the balloons cost as little as $2.00 each balloon and energy derived from these balloons is expected to be cost competitive with natural gas derived electricity.

This is excellent news for renewable power enthusiasts who have long hoped for commercial possibility of this renewable resource. CleanTechnica.com indicates the inflated balloon, “Focuses sunlight onto a photovoltaic cell held at its focal point. The design produces 400 times the electricity that a solar cell would create without the company’s concentrator.”

The balloons are used firstly due to the surface area being considerably larger than usual solar receptors. Because the cost is reduced due to the low-cost material used for the inflated balloon the surface can be replaced as required while harnessed energy from the sun is securely stored at Cool Earth facilities and then redistributed for consumer use.

In describing the unique receptors Eric Cummings, Founder and CTO of Cool Earth Solar, noted the pending patents filed in the summer of 2007, “The filing of this intellectual property is a milestone in the development and protection of Cool Earth Solar’s radical approach to solar concentrating technology. We believe this technology makes deployment of solar power economically viable as a utility scale application.” Investors apparently agree as the coolearthsolar.com website announced an infusion of 21 million dollars in realated to this breakthrough technology.

Cool Earth sources wanted to verify the point by saying, “The amount of sunlight that hits the Earth’s surface in one hour is enough to power the entire world for a year.”

Company officials are intent on capitalizing on this information and allowing consumers to benefit from their results. Cool Earth describes the technical side of their system by saying, “Much like using a magnifying glass to concentrate light, concentrated solar systems use lenses or reflectors to concentrate sunlight onto highly efficient solar cells. By concentrating the light onto a single high efficiency cell, the technology vastly reduces the amount of traditional solar cell area needed to produce electricity. Multi-junction, high efficiency cells derived from satellite technology allow CPV systems to generate the same amount of electricity as traditional flat-panel PV systems while using up to 300 to 400 times less solar cell material.”

Discover.com may have said it best when they reported, “Millions of these balloons could hover low over the landscape, each concentrating sunlight onto a photovoltaic cell inside, and pumping out electricity more cheaply than power from fossil fuels.”

While some will follow other forms of alternate energy there will be one company in California enjoying the sunshine whilst expanding solar potential.

Tags: Balloon Technology, California Business, Company Officials, Earth Facilities, Energy Experts, Energy From The Sun, Fossil Fuel, Grasshopper, Inflated Balloon, Livermore California, Mylar Balloons, Photovoltaic Cell, Plastic Material, Power Enthusiasts, Receptors, Renewable Power, Renewable Resource, Solar Cell, Tracy California, Windmills