The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado has developed some technological breakthroughs that will change the way we manufacture solar cells. The lab is sponsored by the Department of Energy and the new breakthroughs could not only save costs and reduce the environmental impact of producing “eco-friendly” power sources, but this innovations will also make the United States far more competitive with other nations when it comes to alternative energy parts manufacturing.

The NREL’s big breakthrough last month was that they found a way to produce the first solar cell that is able to produce more electrons than it gathers form the sun—making solar energy production go farther.

Equally innovative and even more exciting for solar energy products manufacturers is the lab’s development of a process for creating solar cells that will reduce the energy cost of producing the cells by up to 50%–which means less cost to the manufacturer of the cells in terms of their own electric bill, and perhaps more accessible alternative energy for all of us once those savings translate into a cheaper form of solar cell and more affordable production of solar energy products.

And not only are these cells cheaper to produce—they run more efficiently to, a product of the more efficient production process, which removes impurities in the silicone as the heat forms the cells.

These types of breakthroughs in the US are continued good news to a manufacturing economy that has found new ways to compete with international competitors in Asia and the euro zone. Although America has always been a heavy importer of parts (even on the products it manufactures in the country) there has been a recent trend toward more US production of parts as well as increased manufacturing overall in the U.S.