When people think of solar energy, one usually imagines flat, black panels on angled roofs. But a California-based company has now developed an ingenious way to get energy from the sun using the same plastic product used in Mylar balloons and Pop-Tart wraps. The company is called Cool Earth Solar. They believed they have a remarkable new energy solar solution in their hands by using solar balloons. They want to exploit the economics and properties of plastic by producing solar concentrators.

Cool Earth says they are able to stitch together $2 worth of thin film plastic measured at eight feet across and coated with a thin layer of aluminum that reflects light onto a silicon solar cell. Scientists are then able to manipulate the air pressure inside strung up balloons in order to alter the shape of the mirrored surface. Their solar balloons achieve a 400 times concentration of sunlight, garnering up to 1 kilowatt of electricity.

What makes these solar balloons an innovative idea is the availability of cheap plastic and made in high volume. The solar balloons are also able to potentially generate electricity at lower costs. Cool Earth estimates that they can have a running power plant in six months, which should attract attention from big utilities companies. That's important because in the Golden State, companies that provide energy have to obtain 20 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by 2010. While the company continues to perfect this new solar balloon technology, Cool Earth will also be constructing a 1.5-megawatt prototype power plant in Central California.