Applied intends to trim the industry's costs in four ways: boost solar factory throughput, improve the productivity of every tool, cut materials costs by using photovoltaic materials more sparingly and raise solar cell efficiencies.

FORBES: Seeking The Light

Suntech Power is currently pursuing thin film technology, a low cost PV technology that involves depositing several thin layers of silicon or more complex materials on a substrate such as glass to make a PV cell.

FORBES: Suntech Power Stock Shines With 25% Upside

Such materials could be used to make hydrogen cartridges that would slot into fuel-cell cars, making refuelling as simple as pulling into a filling station and swapping an empty cartridge for a full one.

ECONOMIST: Space-age soot

The trick is to replace graphite with tin for the anode, which is one of the two main components in a battery cell, said Grant Norton, who headed the research and is a professor of mechanical and materials engineering at the university.

FORBES: Tin: The Secret To Improving Lithium-Ion Battery Life

Many companies are working on coming up with better materials for the cathode or the anode in order to increase the energy density of the battery cell.

FORBES: Tin: The Secret To Improving Lithium-Ion Battery Life

Researchers at Virginia Tech have found a way to efficiently extract hydrogen from plant materials, overcoming one of the obstacles that led the Obama Administration to put hydrogen fuel-cell technology on the back burner.

FORBES: Could Hydrogen Breakthrough Revive The Fuel-Cell Car?

Scientists have known that other materials can hold more lithium ions and increase the amount of energy that can be packed into a cell.

FORBES: Tin: The Secret To Improving Lithium-Ion Battery Life