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Solar power to go

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Buying a solar panel should be like purchasing a refrigerator or hot tub, according to ReadySolar.

It should be a home product that comes ready to install in one box with simplified instructions so nearly anyone can install it. Hence the company's so-called "Solar in a Box" product it's pitching here at Launch: Silicon Valley.

ReadySolar makes a modular, prefabricated solar-panel box. The aim is to bring down the cost of solar installation and components, according to Meredith McClintock, the company's founder and president. The company does that by building a proprietary … Read more

Start-up aims to reinvent the kerosene lamp

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--When starting a business, it's important to create a product that solves a problem. A small start-up is tackling a big dilemma: 2 billion people in the world don't have access to electricity.

Here at Launch: Silicon Valley at the Microsoft campus, 30 start-ups are pitching social-media products or software as a service. D.light Design is thinking a bit more globally.

D.light Design was born out of a Stanford University class project, and it currently has five employees. Chief Executive Sam Goldman spent four years in the Peace Corps in West Africa, where … Read more