My panel are made by Sanyo. Here is a quote from their website:
Sanyo HIT solar panel technology uses less space per watt than most other brands. SANYO silicon wafers located inside HIT solar panels are made in California and Oregon (from October 2009), and the panels are assembled in an ISO 9001 (quality), 14001 (environment), and 18001 (safety) certified factory. Unique eco-packing minimizes cardboard waste at the job site. The panels have a Limited 20-Year Power Output and 5-Year Product Workmanship Warranty.

True. If my employer, or someone in that neighborhood, would install solar then perhaps we could work a deal and minimize the need for the grid.
Currently, the utility in my area pays only with energy credit. It will be interesting if they ever start paying real money, even at wholesale rates.

Good point! and why should you pay for my kids to go to school? And why should you pay for roads in my neighborhood? And why should you pay for the military to defend me?

Shadows from trees or other sources are a deal-breaker. Maintanence is not an issue. I used to hose off the panels every couple of months, but I got lazy and don't even do that any more. The system just works.

It's nice when you get your neighbors to pay 2/3 the cost of your solar array
That's true. But they do get some benefit. We have frequent brown-outs in the summer. At those peak times my solar panels are pumping their maximum output into the grid and alieviating some of the strain. And my panels are not polluting.
As tax payers we all subsidise some things from which we benefit only indirectly.

During the day my solar panels are putting power into the grid. At night I take power out of the grid.
I bought a very small system, 2kW, about 4 years ago. The price was about $19k. After rebates I was out of pocket about $10k. I gather that prices have come down a lot since then.
Over those 4 years I have generated 15000kWh. The first 3 years I generated more than I used. Last year I added some outdoor lighting. Also, I bought an Onkyo amplifier which I just discovered uses 20W even when it is "off". Anyway, for the last year I am about 500kWh in the red.
I live in an area that gets lots of sunshine. You might wonder whether I really get 2kW out of the system. Well, on a couple of occasions it has spiked up to 2200W, but typically the max on a winter day is about 1200W and on a summer day about 1600W.
I used to get a kick out of watching the meter run backwards, but then SDG&E replaced it with a digital meter, which still runs backwards but is not as fun to watch.
I knew when I bought them that the panels were not a great investment, but I wanted to be green and the panels will pay for themselves eventually.

Oops, should have linked to the article instead of my comment.

Copyright was originally 14 years, renewable once. But that was back before movies, radio, and TV. Typesetting was done by hand, books were distributed by horse-drawn carts. In this day and age 5 years is more than enough time to display your work and make a tidy profit. See also What Would You Ask For in Copyright Law?.

I would be more excited if they could figure out how to turn dead cells into computers.

...540 whatever, and that's only if you count (Score:-1). It's just kinda pathetic.

I've been The Pope for God knows how many years and this is the best that you can do? Look, don't get me wrong, there have been some great comments ("talk to the cloud", now That is clever). I'm just saying, well, uh stay in touch OK? By the way, have you all seen the new iWatch? Way cool. Well gotta run, shuffle really, but well, anyway, uh, bye.

Hey! Big Guy! Throw me a bone, I'm dying up here!

Hyuk hyuk ... I kill me.