Cool Earth Solar has just received $21 million in funding from private investors to develop their solar concentrator balloons. The Livermore, California company will be manufacturing these metalized plastic balloons, which will concentrate the sun’s energy upon photovoltaic cells in order to generate electricity.

Since the solar balloons are made of plastic, the manufacturing costs are cheap, bringing the total cost of electrical generation to a point that is lower than that of natural gas power plants. According to CEO Rob Lamkin, “We will apply the funding towards expanding our team, developing our technology, and building our state-of-the-art solar power plants.”

The Cool Earth Solar balloons can withstand a 125 mph wind, are water-cooled and can be scaled up globally. The high-tech balloon firm is now negotiating to sell electricity to utility companies from their solar balloon farms. The company has no plans to sell their solar balloons, however, to residents as they are utility-scale systems only.

While the Fifth Dimension may be singing, “Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon” it is Cool Earth Solar, however saying, “Would you like to buy my beautiful balloon.” Expect to see balloons and confetti coming soon to a utility company near you.

The Solfocus CPV systems uses lenses and mirrors to focus sunlight on solar cells making for a more intense and efficient use of energy. The Solfocus CPV also tracks the sun for the most direct sunray angles during the day.

Other similar photovoltaic systems use dishes or parabolic troughs to focus light, so the Solfocus CPV is unique in its ability to intensify more sunlight than these other systems. According to Solfocus VP, Pedro Ladrón de Guevara, “We share the belief with the ISFOC leadership that CPV is the disruptive technology that will have a major impact in moving solar energy toward a more cost-effective and scalable mainstream energy source.”

The mission of Solfocus is to bring forth solar energy solutions that are competitive with current fossil fuel prices, without the use of government subsidies. And, Solfocus believes that concentrator photovoltaic is just such a technology.

The solar industry has been stymied somewhat in recent years by the rising costs of silicon. IBM has been selling its recycled silicon chips to companies like ReneSola, who buy them for a quarter of the cost of new silicon wafers. A little additional work does have to be completed in order to further refine the silicon for use in the solar wafers, but the price is right says the Chinese photovoltaic manufacturer.

IBM has enough recycled chips to power about 6,000 solar homes per year. The new IBM process uses water, an abrasive pad and friction to scrub wafers in a way that doesn’t use chemical solvents. This process also saves the company about $1.5 million per year, so recycling is paying off big time for Big Blue.

While many big business are doing their part of recycle in a high tech manner, consumers at the grassroots level can also recycle at a low tech level as well. One way to do this is to check out Freecycle.org that let’s people in the same communities give each other free items rather than sending them to the landfills.