More American companies are beginning to look to the sky for their next source of energy. Companies like Apple Inc are already considering the development of solar powered iPods, California’s Ironwood prison installing more than 6,000 solar panels, and even Fenway Park in Boston using the sun to power Red Sox games. The 2007 World Series-winning Red Sox baseball club last month became the first professional sports team to go solar, installing solar hot water panels that will replace a third of the gas used to heat water at Boston’s historic Fenway Park. The resurging interest into solar capabilities in America is being driven by rising fossil fuel prices as well as public concern over climate change. Solar’s high costs have kept the resource out of reach for many residences and businesses, but industry analysts say not for long. Although solar panels are easy to install, it is the building of the panel, which is expensive because of tight supplies of silicon, their costliest element. Most industry analysts expect a constraint on silicon supplies to end within two years. But they are divided on whether this would help or harm the industry. The tipping […]