Green news harvest: Chrysler's answer to the Volt; a solar 'land grab'

A sampling of green-tech news and quick commentary.

• Chrysler plans electric vehicles, could be ready in 3-5 years - Detroit Free Press
  The answer to the Chevy Volt: Chrysler is developing hybrid technology, called ENVI, for extended-range hybrid vehicles.
• Does Car-Mounted Solar Make Sense? -Technology Review
  Short answer: no. A roof just doesn't have enough space to hold panels to fully charge a car's battery. But it would make you the greenest guy/gal on the block.
(Credit: Solar Electrical Vehicles)
• Solar Startup GreenVolts to Raise Sizable Funding This Year - Earth2Tech
  To build solar power plants, you need lots of money (and land). If concentrating solar start-ups don't get funding, they will likely get acquired.
• ArcelorMittal launches cleantech and carbon funds - VentureBeat
  That's something new: a huge metal manufacturer launching a clean-tech fund.
• No Tax Credit, No Solar Power - Greentech Media
  Talk about casting a pall over an industry. An expiring tax credit is stopping investments in solar projects and factories, says Abengoa exec. One-year extension isn't any help either.
• Solar's hot real estate market - Fortune
  On the complex "solar land rush" going on in the southwestern U.S., hot spot for solar thermal power plants.
• What Will Drive the Energy Innovation Revolution? - Dot Earth - New York Times
  A debate sparked by Andrew Revkin's post where he said that the world lacks the menu of energy options. I agree with Professor Nate Lewis' comment, in calling for more R&D, that it isn't "either/or," it's "do both."
• Iraq's electricity-starved capital goes solar - Los Angeles Times
  In Baghdad, where electricity is not reliable, solar-powered street lights are mostly about security.

[k2dave]

Is this a horrible use of a solar panel? Perhaps garaged at home, and subject to being smashed in a accident? This panels should have a 10 to 20 year lifespan, and normally need 5-8 years IIRC to recoup the cost if placed on a sunny roof of a house. How long dose the average car last? Also this is new technology, which fuel efficiency should increase and perhaps go a different direction, so these cars may not last all that long.

[Manhattan2]

Solar panels should never be installed on a moving vehicle. For that matter solar panels should never be installed in a fixed orientation on a house! Solar Transfer is the only viable concept that is out there.

[daver]

I wrote about this in my blog some time ago titled "solar cars wouldn't it be ... lame": http://whorledview.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/solar-cells-on-cars-very-unlikely/

Not to mention you can sell solar electricity back to the grid at 2X if it's mounted on your real estate, so putting it on a car, assuming that it was a good idea (which it isn't by a long shot) would be a horrible financial blunder.