Photovoltaic improvements may bring cheap solar power to reality

There are several ways of using the Sun as a renewable energy source. One of the best known is applying solar panels to generate electricity. Photovoltaic panels are the most common of these technologies.
They work by gathering photons from the Sun, which are absorbed by the silicon solar cells. This makes electrons flow from their atoms and generate electricity.
Solar panels is probably the greenest source of energy and my first choice for cheap solar power. Traditionally, costs for installing solar panels have allways been high. But economy of scale can change this completely. As more people buy solar panels, they become cheaper. This is happening right now as I'm finally seeing solar panels at an affordable price. Of course there's still an investment, that will only pay itself after some years.
Also, the technology is improving. What we buy now are solar panels based on sillicon, which theoretically could achieve as much as 31% efficiency, but in practice only 15% is obtained. However, scientists are rapidly seeking other materials to build the panels from. To my knowledge, the best efficiency achieved in lab so far is 42.8%, by a couple of researchers from University of Delaware. The bad thing is that it will take some years till this technology comes out. The good part is that prices of the current technology will continue to drop till that moment arrives. Of course, that technology won't be cheap at first. That's what happens with every new technology. However, if people are buying I suspect it will become cheap a lot faster than these sillicon solar panels that are available today.

In the search of alternative energy sources and cheap solar power

As consumers, people are getting more aware of the benefits of alternative energy sources, like solar power. One of the main accomplishments for the near future would be to have cheap solar power. Cheap solar power is not a mirage, there are plenty of products that take advantage of the sun. That technology becoming cheap is just a matter of industrial economics. With increasing demand, soon solar power will become cheaper and cheaper.
The Sun is our most powerful source of energy and it has been used for centuries for different applications (not only for power generation). Too bad we still don't have the technology to harness all that power and specially to store it, for later use. My intention is to explore and discover the old and new technology that we can use everyday as an alternative to the traditional electricity that is becoming more expensive to our pockets and to the environment. What I want is cheap solar power!
However, as I said, the Sun is not only used to extract power. One interesting project is SODIS, used in developing countries to disinfect water. Water is placed in regular plastic bottles and with the help of UV-A radiation and temperature, some pathogens are destroyed, making water safer to dirnk. This is completely inexpensive and can help stopping diseases in those countries. I presume the only reason it's not so widely used is lack of information.