New Energy Efficient Technologies, Lexus or Corolla?

For decades there has been talk about how photovoltaics could explode onto the mainstream market once they crossed the performance and efficiency coefficient. Once their efficiency, or output power v. input power of sunlight, overtakes the levels of energy put into manufacturing them, we are headed into positive territory for more widespread applications. This, of course, assumes that one of the main impediments to  general applications is first cost. So the problem is being approached from two directions: getting first costs down and increasing lifecycle efficiency. See the article on Archinect: New Energy Efficient Technologies - Lexus or Corolla?