Oct. 31--Barry Cinnamon is the founder and CEO of Los Gatos-based Akeena Solar, which designs and installs solar systems. The company's simple philosophy is stated on its Web site: Akeena believes "producing clean electricity directly from the sun is the right thing to do for our environment and economy."

Residential sales of rooftop solar systems make up about 90 percent of Akeena's business. And though the solar industry has been hard hit by the credit crunch, the economic crisis and a global glut of key components, Cinnamon remains an enthusiastic advocate for the benefits of solar power. He loves to talk about Akeena's Andalay AC solar panel system, which incorporates all of the wiring, racking and electrical elements into the solar panels themselves.

The Andalay AC system won a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Product Award earlier this month.

Q How did you first get into solar?

A I first got interested as a student at MIT. My thesis was on the design of a thermal solar collector. I worked for a few solar companies in the Boston area until 1984, and then the whole solar industry went into hibernation. I went to business school and worked in the software industry and moved to California. In 2001 I wanted to put solar on the roof of my house in Saratoga, and I couldn't find anyone to help. So I started to figure it out myself. I didn't really plan on starting a business, but that's what happened. I joke

that Akeena didn't start in a garage; it started on my garage, because that's where the solar panels were.

Q How has the culture of the solar industry changed since you founded Akeena in 2001?

A In the first few years I could still wear a tie-dyed T-shirt. Solar was still dominated by a lot of old-time solar geezers who had been doing this for a while, and we came out of the culture of the 1970s. But in the past five years or so it's become more of a mainstream business, and there are a lot of welcome newcomers.

Q There's a lot of hope for the residential solar market taking off, because the cost for consumers is finally coming down. The typical residential system in California still costs about $30,000, but that's before incentives like a 30 percent federal tax credit. Do you think we're at a tipping point?

A We're at the tipping point, and we see it tipping, but it just hasn't tipped all the way yet. It boils down to customer economics. The cost of producing solar panels is coming down very fast, and the installation costs are dropping as well. But there's still a great deal of paperwork and bureacracy, from permits to inspections to filing for tax credits.