At the current time, houses that are run entirely on solar energy are few and far between. For people who live in very sunny and warm climates, such as those commonly found in California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and other southern locales, the occurrence of solar panels used on the roofs of homes is gaining popularity. As the solar system is paid off, the cost of heating and cooling the home becomes significantly less than if traditionally produced electricity was used for the same purpose.

There have been recent developments in solar energy production, and one of the most exciting is known as thin film solar technology. Thin film solar cells are similar in some ways to the more common photovoltaic solar energy, but there are some significant differences that will make photovoltaic film the wave of the future for implementing green energy in a more widespread manner throughout the United States and other countries.

Both photovoltaic and thin film solar cells utilize semiconducting materials to capture the sun's energy. Photovoltaic cells will use silicon as the semiconductor of choice, whereas photovoltaic film uses copper indium gallium deselenide or cadmium telluride. One of the benefits that comes from the copper or cadmium semiconductors is that they are more efficient at light absorption than are silicon semiconductors. What this means is that silicon semiconductors work well for helping to create enough electricity to power small items, such as hair dryers or night lights, but they are not the best choice for providing electricity to an entire house, for example.

Cadmium and copper-material semiconductors are also more readily available than silicon, making it a better choice for widespread applications. The benefit with using the thin film is that the semiconductor layer of the solar cell need be only microscopically thin in order to function at a similar efficiency rate as a silicon solar cell that needs a thicker layer of semiconductor material in order to function.

Because of the very thinness of the thin film cells, there is great hope that with improvements to efficiency that they will provide a next-generation solution for providing solar energy to homes more cost effectively. Thin film cells could be placed in the shingles and other roofing materials on a home for example, in a way that is not noticeable, unlike the use of large and often bulky solar cell panels in use today. The excitement grows as green technology advances in thi