With the price of oil going higher and higher, alternative sources of energy like solar power are becoming much more attractive! Find out how solar power works, and whether it could help solve our energy problems.

Stephen A. Hammer is Director of the Urban Energy Project at Columbia University's Center for Energy, Marine Transportation and Public Policy (CEMTPP). Richard Perez is Senior Research Associate of University at Albany's Atmospheric Sciences Research Center.

We’d like to hear from business or homeowners who have installed solar panels. Are you glad you did it? How has it affected your energy bills? Have you recouped your original investment yet?