4th of July Salute from Solar Thermal

A picture was worth 24,000 mirrors when eSolar, a company based in Pasadena, Calif., that specializes in solar thermal power, transformed a vast field of heliostats at its Southern California solar farm into a Fourth of July tableau of the American flag and the Statue of Liberty. The New York Times reports.

Mr. Gross, the founder of the tech-incubator Idealab, contends that eSolar can deliver electricity cheaper than natural gas, repeat, cheaper than natural gas, by using sophisticated algorithms to control inexpensive and lightweight mirrors called heliostats. The heliostats create steam that runs turbine engines, that generate electricity. Simple, but true.

hat tip to @pingpants