Silicon Valley 2.0?

California's Silicon Valley made its name with computer chips, but its second act could star another kind of semiconductor: The solar panel.

As the AP reports, "So many valley companies, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are rushing into the burgeoning solar industry that it's inviting comparisons to the early expansion of the microchip industry more than two decades ago."

Currently, less than one percent of the world's electricity comes from solar and Japan and Germany are the early leaders in the nascent industry. But that could change quickly given the Golden State's ambitious new global warming legislation, which aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020, and its "Million Solar Roofs" program, which offers cash incentives for consumers to adopt solar power.

But while the solar revolution could well occur Silicon Valley, it may not hinge on the area's namesake material. Polysilicon, already expensive, has also grown scarce as the demand for photovoltaics climbs. Experts say the future of solar power probably lies in less expensive (and, as yet, less efficient) alternatives such as electrically conductive plastics, carbon nanotubes and dye-sensitized solar cells that attempt to mimic photosynthesis.

Whichever technologies win out in the end, venture capitalists see the solar field as fertile ground. As one source tells the AP, "We all see that green is gold."