Johnny Lieu for Mashable:  Despite places like Australia being bathed in sun, the cost of traditional silicon-based solar cells hasn't inspired people to buy, buy, buy.

But what if you could make the technology cheaper and produce it at a higher scale? Some believe that printed solar is the way forward. 

Leading the charge is Paul Dastoor from the University of Newcastle in Australia and his team of researchers, who are in the final stage of testing his printed solar solution.

The University of Newcastle is one of only three sites in the world testing printed solar, which uses electronic inks to conduct electricity. These can be printed at "massive scale" by machines, meaning they could be used for speedy rollout across large areas. Handy, especially in times of disaster.

"It's completely different from a traditional solar cell. They tend to be large, heavy, encased in glass — tens of millimetres thick," Dastoor explained. "We're printing them on plastic film that's less than 0.1 of a millimetre thick."  Full Article: