Of Solar and Sun

I have always been fascinated by solar power and even more so after becoming a backyard gardener. It's so interesting to see how each plant reacts to the solar energy, how the tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and watermelons thrive in the heat of the sun, how they slow down their growth if it gets too hot, but most amazingly how a little seed with some sun, water and nutrients from the soil can generate delicious food, be it sweeter-than-honey figs or spicy hot peppers. I always thought how little of sun's power we seem to be using and a blog that I read today more than confirmed my hunch (not that I believe everything I read on the Internet). It said:
"... solar energy which the earth receives (even after dissipation through the earth's atmosphere) is 10,000 times the total energy consumed by humans in all forms ... "

I am also a big-supporter of hybrid car technology, even though the entry cost seems a bit high for its benefits. What a great complimentary technology solar power would be to hybrid cars, if the cars' entire chassis were made of solar cells, charging the batteries of the car while parked in the sun. One commenter in the blog I mentioned above also refers to that possibility, I hope solar cells can also be manufactured in designer colors (not just black).