FollowEarlier this year I wrote about Glasspoint Energy and its innovative method of using solar power to heat water to make steam, which gets injected into old oil fields to coax out stubborn heavy oil. Glasspoint installs its cheap, flimsy aluminum foil-like solar collectors inside simple glass houses (think agricultural greenhouses), which shelter the gear from the elements. Materials costs are a fraction of those for more traditional solar collectors. Glasspoint’s first commercial project was for Berry Petroleum in the century-old oil fields near Bakersfield, Calif.
