Friday, October 23, 2009 at 1:05:54 PM - by Danny Vo

Dell, recognized recently by Newsweek as one of the greenest companies in America, is installing solar panel "trees" in one of the parking lots at its corporate headquarters.

Solar trees are not new, though. An installation was completed in 2005 at the University of California, San Diego. Kyocera, manufacturer of the panels that went into UCSD's solar tree project, estimates that the system will generate 421,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year.

Dell's trees were designed by San Diego-based Envision Solar. The company's solar trees shade parking spots - 50 spots are shaded at Dell's headquarters - and provide outlets for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

As more automakers develop electric and advanced hybrid vehicles, charging stations will have to become ubiquitous. Solar tree systems that recharge parked cars' batteries can be an important part of the future of automotive technology.

Envision also touts its LifeTree for residential installations, a smaller system that generates 2,000 kilowatt-hours each year. The company says its solar panel technology will enable each LifeTree to keep 30 tons of carbon out of the atmosphere.