California Connected Newsroom

Wired News reports that Google is building “solar trees” on the parking lots and rooftops of its Mountain View headquarters, enough to power about 30 percent of the complex. “About a third of the 9,000 solar panels Google’s installing will take the form of overhanging parking shades at the million-square-foot campus in Mountain View,” Wired’s Marty Graham reports. “The others will be mounted on rooftops.”

“Parking lot installations are a visible demonstration of the company’s commitment to the environment,” says Bob Noble, an architect at San Diego-based Envision Solar. “You can talk about your energy savings, your recycling and green practices, but the sight of solar panels in the parking lot is an emblem of that commitment.”

The San Francisco Chronicle also reports that Nanosolar Inc., manufacturer of a new, cheaper and more flexible solar cell, will build a major factory in south San Jose.

“The company, based in Palo Alto, also will open a factory in Germany, the world’s largest market for solar technology,” the Chronicle reports. “The $102 million plant on San Jose’s Hellyer Avenue will make enough solar cells each year to generate 400 megawatts of electricity, roughly enough to light 300,000 homes.”

• You’ve Got Mail: Big companies like Google and Earthlink see gold in that plan and are partnering with the city of San Francisco to build a network to connect the city. A poor, rural southeastern Indian reservation in San Diego County is providing wireless Internet access to reservations across a 250 square mile network via transmitters mounted on mountaintops.