Sunny-side Up

Despite the floundering economy, solar power is surging in San Diego.

The North County Times reported Monday that there was a 300 percent jump last year in the installation of solar panels in San Diego and Riverside Counties. Companies doing the work said that they expect the figures to continue soaring, now that new tax breaks are beginning in 2009.

"Typically, the winter is the slow season for solar," David Wiley, administrative assistant for the installation firm Real Goods Carlson in Murrieta, told the paper. "You're scraping for jobs and taking whatever you can. But now we're booked solid for a good two months and we don't see us slowing down anytime soon."

Besides being green, the new systems have become more aesthetically pleasing as well.

"They are not ugly boxes on houses tucked away in the woods," Bob Noble, chairman of the California Center for Sustainable Energy, which promotes green energy and administers the state's solar rebate program in San Diego County.. "They are beautiful examples of 21st century technology."

Read the "Area Warming to Sun Power" on NCTimes.com for more details.

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