Solar Power Thread

[M II A II R II K]

Should you retrofit your home with solar power?

http://www.househunting.ca/eco/story.html?id=5e36c7d5-d240-4bbc-a035-3cef9bcb1d7f

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/b17a5268-e809-4db2-a84b-06fc4c00d03e/m1x00009_solar.jpg?size=hhl

Cost of system not cheap but it will pay for itself quickly.

The short answers are: Probably (for your hot water heater); definitely (for your pool -- I know, summer's a distant memory); and likely not (for your household electrical needs).

Your hot water heater is an energy hog, accounting for up to one-quarter of your household's energy consumption.

Add greenhouse gas emissions associated with conventional hot water heating -- between 600 and 760 kg a year, according to the Ontario Ministry of Energy -- and endlessly renewable, non-polluting sunshine seems a no-brainer.

"From April to September, solar power will cover 90 per cent of your heating," says Michael McGahern, whose company, Ottawa Solar Power, sells, installs and services solar hot water systems. "From June to September, it'll be 100 per cent."

Factor in cloudy days and cooler temperatures through the balance of the year and a solar power system will meet 50 to 60 per cent of your annual hot water needs.

A system for a family of four runs around $6,500, according to McGahern. With federal and provincial grants and rebates factored in, the system should have paid for itself in seven to eight years, he says. But if energy prices increase, as some predict they will, it should pay for itself more quickly than that.

A solar hot water system for a family of four needs a couple of glycol-filled collector panels installed, preferably on a south-facing roof.

Heavily insulated copper pipes carry the heated glycol from the panels down the outside of the house and into the basement, where a new hot water tank with a heat exchanger feeds your existing unit.

When the sun shines, your hot water's free; when it doesn't, your electrical or gas-fired tank kicks in.

For optimal operation, the panels need direct sun from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day, says McGahern, although the storage tank does hold the heat for up to 24 hours. The water is hottest in late morning and early afternoon.

Installation involves a couple of technicians clambering over your roof and through your basement for about a day and a half. You'll also need a municipal building permit.

"The single best use of solar energy is heating your pool," says McGahern. "It can pay for itself within a year, a year and a half."

A system runs between $3,000 and $5,000 and, like conventional pool heating, extends the swimming season by two to four weeks at both ends. These systems typically work by pumping the pool water through solar panels. Like other systems, components are usually long lasting and low maintenance.

As to solar-generated residential electricity, McGahern says, "People putting in those systems are doing it from an environmental point of view, not an economic one."

A typical Canadian household consumes 20 to 30 kWh of electricity a day, while even an ultra-efficient home uses three to six.

According to the experts, a solar-based electricity generating system with its array of sun-tracking photovoltaic panels, energy inverters and batteries will cost $30,000 and up for every 3 kW it produces.

What's more, homeowners usually have a generator or stay hooked to the hydro grid for those back-to-back days of cloud cover.

McGahern faults Canadian governments for short-sightedness in not subsidizing solar technology as some European countries do.

"Through subsidies, they've spawned a multibillion-dollar industry which is feeding those countries. They developed a tremendous amount of knowledge which is going to benefit all of us 10 years from now."

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (www.cmhc.gc.ca) and Natural Resources Canada (www.canren.gc.ca) are good sources of information on most things solar.

Quallium, an Ottawa-based startup company, has installed solar electricity systems for clients hungering to go off-grid.

The systems are especially practical for cottages far from hydro lines, company owner Paul Fritz-Nemeth says.

He adds that a $5,000 to $10,000 system can provide backup for critical household circuits to run furnace pumps and other basic equipment during a power failure.

Not all solar panels are created equal, so it's best to ask about tolerance variations: A good 100-watt panel will generate 95 to 105 watts; take a pass on the one that bottoms out at 75 watts.

"The real problem is our habits," says Fritz-Nemeth. "Big-screen TVs consume a lot of power, especially when they're left plugged in all the time.

"People think the cost of solar systems depends on the size of their house. It really depends on what your habits are."

[You Need A Thneed]

A link to a competely solar powered house in Edmonton. (http://www.riverdalenetzero.ca/Home.html)

[202_Cyclist]

The US Dept. of Energy Solar Decathlon will be held in DC from Oct. 9-13, 15-18, 2009. Teams from universities in the US and abroad compete to design, build, and operate attractive solar-powered homes over one weekend. Here is the link for more information: http://www.solardecathlon.org/

[M II A II R II K]

When this becomes mainstream I'm sure they'll have a tax on them and encourage people to rent out the equipment if they can't own them.

[Krases]

My parent's want me to help design a house for them when they eventually move out of there current home. They want solar power and a rainwater collection tank.

[M II A II R II K]

Inflatable Solar Panels Zip Together To Power Most Anything

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/inflatable-solar-panels-that-zip-together.php

http://www.treehugger.com/04_solar_skin.jpg

http://www.treehugger.com/03_solar_skin.jpg

http://www.treehugger.com/09_solar_skin.jpg

This lightweight, inflatable solar panel concept brings renewable energy access to any building and without that pesky renovation.

Each eye-shaped piece has a white foam shell that measures 4 feet by 2.5 feet. Inside the foam housing is an inflatable polymer lined with thin-film solar cells printed on mylar. The pieces can then zip together for a variety of configurations.

In lieu of costly renovation for conventional panels, the configurable pieces would provide easy solar-power access to most any building . The foam housings can be strung with wire or structural tubing to meet the needs of any structure.

The pieces could also be used for completely off-grid temporary structures.

[smurf]

The sad reality is that until PV technology takes a huge leap forward, PV solar is basically useless. There simply isn't enough power from the sun that reaches the ground. It works on a small scale, but it'll never work on a large scale. The best options are the parabolic mirror arrays that concentrate the sunlight and even then you get a paltry 16MW for a 1600acre site.

[M II A II R II K]

Florida to Build First Solar Powered City in U.S.

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/04/10/florida-to-build-first-solar-powered-city-in-us/

http://go635254.s3.amazonaws.com/cleantechnica/files/2009/04/solarpanel.jpg

The eco-city, called Babcock Ranch, is a joint venture between a real estate developer, Kitson & Partners, and Florida Power & Light, and will be located near Fort Myers, Florida.

Babcock Ranch will include almost 20,000 houses and 6 million square feet of mixed retail, office, and light industrial space, and have city-wide wireless internet and electric car charging stations throughout.

The city will be fully powered by solar during the day, and produce an excess of electricity that will be exported to the grid. The CEO of Kitson said the project will serve as a model to other communities and be a “living laboratory for companies, workers and families ready to reap the rewards of innovation.”

Florida Power & Light expects to break ground on the $400 million solar PV plant this year, pending regulatory approval. Construction of Babcock Ranch is slated for the summer of 2010.

The project’s cost is estimated at $2 billion, and is expected to create 20,000 jobs.

Image: markus941 at Flickr under CC License

[Nowhereman1280]

Can we get a similar thread for Wind Power Developments? I think it would be interesting to have one like the Boom Rundowns that keeps track of all the new wind farm developments across the country. They've built a ton of new wind farms in Wisconsin lately but I'd like to see whats going on in the rest of the country.

[M II A II R II K]

First black hole for light created on Earth

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17980-first-black-hole-for-light-created-on-earth.html

http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn17980/dn17980-2_300.jpg

An electromagnetic "black hole" that sucks in surrounding light has been built for the first time.

The device, which works at microwave frequencies, may soon be extended to trap visible light, leading to an entirely new way of harvesting solar energy to generate electricity.

A theoretical design for a table-top black hole to trap light was proposed in a paper published earlier this year by Evgenii Narimanov and Alexander Kildishev of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Their idea was to mimic the properties of a cosmological black hole, whose intense gravity bends the surrounding space-time, causing any nearby matter or radiation to follow the warped space-time and spiral inwards.

Narimanov and Kildishev reasoned that it should be possible to build a device that makes light curve inwards towards its centre in a similar way. They calculated that this could be done by a cylindrical structure consisting of a central core surrounded by a shell of concentric rings.

There's no escape

The key to making light curve inwards is to make the shell's permittivity – which affects the electric component of an electromagnetic wave – increase smoothly from the outer to the inner surface. This is analogous to the curvature of space-time near a black hole. At the point where the shell meets the core, the permittivity of the ring must match that of the core, so that light is absorbed rather than reflected.

Now Tie Jun Cui and Qiang Cheng at the Southeast University in Nanjing, China, have turned Narimanov and Kildishev's theory into practice, and built a "black hole" for microwave frequencies. It is made of 60 annular strips of so-called "meta-materials", which have previously been used to make invisibility cloaks.

Each strip takes the form of a circuit board etched with intricate structures whose characteristics change progressively from one strip to the next, so that the permittivity varies smoothly. The outer 40 strips make up the shell and the inner 20 strips make up the absorber.

"When the incident electromagnetic wave hits the device, the wave will be trapped and guided in the shell region towards the core of the black hole, and will then be absorbed by the core," says Cui. "The wave will not come out from the black hole." In their device, the core converts the absorbed light into heat.

Quick work

Narimanov is impressed by Cui and Cheng's implementation of his design. "I am surprised that they have done it so quickly," he says.

Fabricating a device that captures optical wavelengths in the same way will not be easy, as visible light has a wavelength orders of magnitude smaller than that of microwave radiation. This will require the etched structures to be correspondingly smaller.

Cui is confident that they can do it. "I expect that our demonstration of the optical black hole will be available by the end of 2009," he says.

Such a device could be used to harvest solar energy in places where the light is too diffuse for mirrors to concentrate it onto a solar cell. An optical black hole would suck it all in and direct it at a solar cell sitting at the core. "If that works, you will no longer require these huge parabolic mirrors to collect light," says Narimanov.

[M II A II R II K]

'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html

Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system

In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.

CONT'D IN LINK

[You Need A Thneed]

'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html

Scientists mimic essence of plants' energy storage system

In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.

CONT'D IN LINK

While cool, I don't know how this relates to solar power, really. Sure, it would work well with solar power as a method to store energy, but what is REALLY needed before solar power takes off is more efficient solar panels. It's expensive to get enough power for daytime needs, never mind to store up power for nighttime needs.

[M II A II R II K]

It Takes a Solar Village

http://www.physorg.com/news175186726.html

http://www.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/ittakesasola.jpg

October 19th, 2009 Joe Verrengia

Team Germany's winning "Cube House" featured silicon and thin-film solar panels on all visible sides of the house. The design's solar panel operates a toy on the front porch of the home. Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Rain didn't ruin the 2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. University teams successfully operated 20 net-zero, grid-connected solar power homes for a week on the National Mall. Some used more power-generating solar panels; others relied on energy efficiency strategies. The winner was clean energy.

Rain usually spoils a solar power contest. But three days of showers — and thin-film photovoltaic technology — actually helped Team Germany win the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon.

Team Germany's Cube House was one of the most technologically advanced among the 20 clean energy prototype designs on the National Mall. Every exposed face of the building was covered with power-generating panels.

On the roof : a 11.1-kW photovoltaic (PV) system of 40 monocrystalline silicon panels. On the sides: 250 thin-film panels that look like glossy clapboards. The thin films used copper-indium-gallium-diselenide layers, or CIGS.

The combination system was expected to produce 200 percent of the energy needed by the house. The thin film panels, while less efficient than conventional silicon, were projected to perform better in cloudy weather than silicon.

Team Germany got its proof on the competition's fifth day when skies turned slate gray and a cold rain splattered the solar village. By late afternoon, as federal commuters started streaming home and electricity demand throughout the city began climbing, the Team Germany house was producing 12.68 kW and consuming 12.33 kW, for a net export of .35 kW.

Team Illinois' house finished a close second, emphasizing energy efficiency over power production.

"Team Germany built a gingerbread house packed with solar panels," said Richard King, DOE Solar Decathlon director. "In the rain, the thin-film panels were making electricity. It made the difference."

NREL Manages the Decathlon

NREL has managed the biannual Solar Decathlon for DOE since the contest's inception eight years ago. Selection of the 20 university teams from North America and Europe begins two years before the actual competition.

The Laboratory sent 30 people to run the week-long contest on the National Mall, including installation of the homes with trucks and cranes, connecting them to Washington's municipal power grid, running the judged contests and monitoring the home's continual performance.

[M II A II R II K]

Solar superpower: Should Europe run on Sahara sun?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427311.400-solar-superpower-should-europe-run-on-sahara-sun.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg20427311.400/mg20427311.400-2_1500.jpg


26 October 2009 by Fred Pearce

EVERY two weeks, the sun pours more energy onto the surface of our planet than we use from all sources in an entire year. It is an inexhaustible powerhouse that has remained largely untapped for human energy needs. That may soon change in a big way. If a consortium of German companies has its way, construction of the biggest solar project ever devised could soon begin in the Sahara desert. When completed, it would harvest energy from the sun shining over Africa and transform it into clean, green electricity for delivery to European homes and businesses.

Prospects for the project, called Desertec, have blossomed over the past year, and this month 20 major German corporations are expected to announce the formation of a consortium that will provide the €400 billion needed to build a raft of solar thermal power plants in north Africa. They include energy utilities giants E.ON and RWE, the engineering firm Siemens, the finance house Deutsche Bank and the insurance company Munich Re.

The current plan, outlined by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in a report to the federal government, envisages that the project will meet 15 per cent of Europe's electricity needs by 2050, with a peak output of 100 gigawatts - roughly equivalent to 100 coal-fired power stations. Preliminary designs in the German report show electricity reaching Europe via 20 high-voltage direct-current power lines, which will keep transmission losses below 10 per cent (New Scientist, 14 March, p 42). Trans-Mediterranean links will cross from Morocco to Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar; from Algeria to France via the Balearic islands; from Tunisia to Italy; from Libya to Greece; and from Egypt to Turkey via Cyprus.

Desertec would take its place in a wider European supergrid that conveys power generated from wind turbines in the North Sea, hydroelectric dams in Scandinavia, hot rocks in Iceland and biofuels in eastern Europe. Adding solar thermal capacity would help ensure a steady supply of green electricity.

But is this really the best use of such a colossal amount of money? Critics are lining up to point out the project's shortcomings. They say it could make Europe's energy supply a hostage to politically unstable countries; that Europe should not be exploiting Africa in this way; that it is a poor investment compared to covering Europe's roofs with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels; and that, while deserts have plenty of sun, they lack another less obvious but equally indispensable resource for a solar thermal power plant - water. Is Desertec really the model of future power generation, as its promoters would have us believe, or is it politically misconceived and a monumental waste of money?

Canned heat

Unlike PV panels, which convert sunlight directly into electricity, solar thermal electricity generation plants first trap solar energy in the form of heat, and use this heat to generate electricity just as a conventional power plant does. Solar thermal plants come in four main varieties. Three use mirrors that concentrate sunlight to heat oil, water or a molten salt, which is in turn used to generate steam that drives a turbine. The mirrors can take the form of parabolic troughs or an array of flat reflectors that redirect sunlight onto pipes suspended above them, heating the fluid that they contain. In the Mojave desert in California, an interlinked system of nine solar thermal plants which use trough mirrors has been generating up to 300 megawatts of electrical power for more than two decades.

Alternatively, a field of mirrors can focus sunlight onto a central ceramic heat absorber mounted on a tower. A prototype plant in Spain has 21,000 square metres of glass mirrors that heat the absorber to over 1000 °C and generate 1 megawatt. In the fourth type, a dish focuses heat on a Stirling engine which generates electricity by exploiting the expansion and contraction of a gas in a sealed piston chamber as it is heated and then allowed to cool (see diagram).

Solar thermal energy is now coming to the fore, as it proves itself to have several advantages over PV. Among these is its ability to produce electricity in power-station quantities, without the complex organisation that distributed generation entails. What's more, it can feed electricity into the grid at night as well as by day. This is done by storing the heated fluid in an insulated container and releasing it hours later when the energy is required. Storing energy from PV panels would require a new generation of high-capacity batteries - still a research project in its infancy for the scale needed. The clincher is cost. Building a power-station-scale solar thermal installation costs only a fraction of PV generators with the same output. As a result, an army of new solar thermal plants are being planned for the US, China, Australia and Israel.


CONT'D IN LINK

[TexasPlaya]

^^^Seems like one of those ideas that's better on paper than in practice.

Personally, I think this idea would be suited for space, among other reasons, "the project will meet 15 per cent of Europe's electricity needs by 2050." If we would concentrate our energies (no pun intended) temporarily on space based solar power, we could solve a lot of energy woes without making the next energy leap (hydorgen, etc.). Average solar power per unit area (W/m^2) outside Earth's atmosphere during any given time period is about 136% that of Earth's surface during direct sunlight and is constant.

Although, going to the moon and mars would bring many benefits too.

[M II A II R II K]

China leads solar home revolution


Oct 29, 2009

By Ryan Rutkowski

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/KJ29Cb02.html

China is the world's largest market for solar water heating (SWH). Since the 1990s, China has blossomed with an increase in annual production to 114.1 million square meters in 2007 from 0.5 million square meters in 1991, accounting for two thirds of global output. According to "The China Greentech Report 2009", the country has the world's largest installed base of solar water heaters, at over 125 million square meters, with one in 10 families such devices.

[M II A II R II K]

Europe's Saharan solar dream edges closer to reality


30 Oct 2009

James Murray

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2252306/europe-saharan-solar-dream

Ambitious plans to generate up to 15 per cent of Europe's electricity using giant solar farms in North Africa and the Middle East moved a step forward today, with the announcement that the coalition of firms behind the proposals has formally launched a new joint venture to manage the project.

The Desertec Group of 12 companies, including Deutsche Bank, E.ON, Munich Re, RWE, Siemens, as well as a raft of solar energy firms, today signed a deal to create Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII) GmbH, a limited liability company tasked with undertaking the groundwork for the project.

[M II A II R II K]

Prospects for solar: "It's like watching the Internet mature in 1995"


Oct 29, 2009

By George Musser

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=prospects-for-solar-its-like-watchi-2009-10-29

I may be one of the few people in my town to have solar power right now, but if the news I’m hearing from the Solar Power International trade show this week is right, a wave of installations is about to sweep the country. I wasn’t able to attend the show -- this blog is just a sideline for me and I couldn’t justify a whole trip -- but I had a chance to talk with two conference attendees, Mike Caliel, CEO of IES, a big national energy contractor that has gotten heavily involved in renewables, and Harry Fleming, CEO of Acro Energy Technologies, one of the biggest solar installers in California.

[M II A II R II K]

Sahara Sun 'to help power Europe'


2 November 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8337735.stm

A sustainable energy initiative that will start with a huge solar project in the Sahara desert has been announced by a consortium of 12 European businesses.

The Desertec Industrial Initiative aims to supply Europe with 15% of its energy needs by 2050.




http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46652000/jpg/_46652725_59729f46-e6a7-46ae-a019-f5ca1e0d0f57.jpg

[Krases]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/multimedia/energy-map/

For those interested in proposed solar sites around Las Vegas. I would post the article, but it is just an interactive image and not much else.

[M II A II R II K]

Solar power generation around the clock


November 5, 2009

by Lin Edwards

http://www.physorg.com/news176632405.html

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Californian company, SolarReserve, is developing a solar power system that can store seven hours' worth of solar energy by focusing mirrors onto millions of gallons of molten salt, allowing the plant to provide electricity 24 hours a day.

- The solar energy is stored using a massive circular array of up to 17,500 mirrors (heliostats), each measuring 24 by 28 feet and attached to a 12-foot pedestal. The heliostat field encircles a concrete Solar Power Tower 538 feet high, with a 100-foot high receiver on top, which holds 4.4 million gallons of molten salt. When the heliostats focus the sunlight onto the receiver the salt is heated to over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.




http://www.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/solarpowerge.jpg


http://www.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/14-Clipboard-1.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

IiBzmvoWsBU

[M II A II R II K]

Japan eyes solar station in space


Sun Nov 8, 6:20 am

by Karyn Poupee

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091108/sc_afp/japanspaceenergysolartechnology

TOKYO (AFP) – It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan's space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.

- With few energy resources of its own and heavily reliant on oil imports, Japan has long been a leader in solar and other renewable energies and this year set ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets.

- But Japan's boldest plan to date is the Space Solar Power System (SSPS), in which arrays of photovoltaic dishes several square kilometres (square miles) in size would hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth's atmosphere.




http://d.yimg.com/a/p/afp/20091108/capt.photo_1257657195003-1-0.jpg?x=400&y=282&q=85&sig=N9ETPo0Pa4H1Qpra2IdDsA--

[M II A II R II K]

New Nanowires May Contribute To Highly Efficient Solar Cells


Nov. 13, 2009

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111122320.htm

Danish nanophysicists have developed a new method for manufacturing the cornerstone of nanotechnology research -- nanowires. The discovery has great potential for the development of nanoelectronics and highly efficient solar cells.

- "We have changed the recipe for producing nanowires. This means that we can produce nanowires that contain two different semiconductors, namely gallium indium arsenide and indium arsenide. It is a big breakthrough, because for first time on a nanoscale, we can combine the good characteristics of the two materials, thus gaining new possibilities for the electronics of the future," explains Peter Krogstrup.




http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/11/091111122320.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Hidden Solar Cells: 3-D System Based On Optical Fiber Could Provide New Options For Photovoltaics


Nov. 3, 2009

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102172517.htm

Converting sunlight to electricity might no longer mean large panels of photovoltaic cells atop flat surfaces like roofs.

- Using zinc oxide nanostructures grown on optical fibers and coated with dye-sensitized solar cell materials, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new type of three-dimensional photovoltaic system. The approach could allow PV systems to be hidden from view and located away from traditional locations such as rooftops.

- "Using this technology, we can make photovoltaic generators that are foldable, concealed and mobile," said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering. "Optical fiber could conduct sunlight into a building's walls where the nanostructures would convert it to electricity. This is truly a three dimensional solar cell."




http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/11/091102172517.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Chemists Describe Solar Energy Progress And Challenges, Including The 'Artificial Leaf'


Nov. 6, 2009

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091105132454.htm

Scientists are making progress toward development of an "artificial leaf" that mimics a real leaf's chemical magic with photosynthesis -- but instead converts sunlight and water into a liquid fuel such as methanol for cars and trucks. That is among the conclusions in a newly-available report from top authorities on solar energy who met at the 1st Annual Chemical Sciences and Society Symposium. The gathering launched a new effort to initiate international cooperation and innovative thinking on the global energy challenge.

[M II A II R II K]

Hot Electrons Could Double Solar Power


December 18, 2009

By Kevin Bullis

Read More: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/24240/?a=f

For decades researchers have investigated a theoretical means to double the power output of solar cells--by making use of so-called "hot electrons." Now researchers at Boston College have provided new experimental evidence that the theory will work. They built solar cells that get a power boost from high-energy photons. This boost, the researchers say, is the result of extracting hot electrons.

- The results are a step toward solar cells that break conventional efficiency limits. Because of the way ordinary solar cells work, they can, in theory, convert at most about 35 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity, wasting the rest as heat. Making use of hot electrons could result in efficiencies as high as 67 percent, says Matthew Beard, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO, who was not involved in the current work. Doubling the efficiency of solar cells could cut the cost of solar power in half.

[nomarandlee]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091223/sc_afp/taiwanenergyenvironmentclimatewarming

Taiwan unveils Asia's biggest solar plant: govt

Wed Dec 23, 3:20 am ET
TAIPEI (AFP) – Taiwan has unveiled what it calls Asia's biggest solar power plant as the island, which imports almost all its energy, seeks to tap into clean renewable resources, the government said Wednesday.

The two-hectare (4.9-acre) plant in south Taiwan's Kaohsiung county, an area that enjoys year-round sunshine, is equipped with 141 huge solar panels that can generate one megawatt in total, said the Atomic Energy Council.

One megawatt is enough to power 1,000 homes, according to an official at the council, which is also in charge of sustainable energy.

The facility, which started operating Tuesday, will help Taiwan cut its carbon emissions by up to 660-700 tonnes annually, officials said.

Taiwan estimates its solar energy industry will be worth up to 200 billion Taiwan dollars (6.25 billion US dollars) by 2020, said the council.

Taiwan's parliament in June passed a major renewable energy bill aimed at adding between 6,500 and 10,000 megawatts of installed energy from renewable sources over the next 20 years.

Currently, Taiwan produces only 2,278 megawatts, or 5.8 percent of installed capacity, from renewable sources, according to the state-run Taiwan Power Co.




..

[M II A II R II K]

Generating Solar Power After Dark


December 26, 2009

By TODD WOODY

Read More: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/hold-for-playback/

Solar farms that would serve two Western utilities are planning to use technology that will generate electricity after the sun goes down, a move that could be a potential game-changer for the industry.

The two farms being planned by SolarReserve of Santa Monica, Calif., would store the sun’s energy in molten salt, releasing the heat at night when it could be used to drive a turbine and generate electricity. Two utilities, NV Energy in Nevada and Pacific Gas and Electric, Northern California’s biggest utility, would buy the power.




http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/blogs/greeninc/solarreserve.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Hybrid Solar Panels Combine Photovoltaics with Thermoelectricity


December 30, 2009

By Larry Greenemeier

Read More: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hybrid-solar-panels

Tar and shingles are hardly environmentally friendly materials, so the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hopes to soon help homeowners and businesses replace the roofs over their heads with something greener. To that end, the DOE awarded Weidlinger Associates, a New York City-based structural engineering firm, a $150,000 grant earlier this month (matched by a 10-percent commitment from the state) to develop durable hybrid solar roofing panels with integrated photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric materials that harvest the sun's energy to produce both electricity and hot water for buildings.

Weidlinger is working with Columbia University in New York City on the project, which the engineers and researchers hope will convert at least 12 percent of collected sunlight into electricity. This would be an improvement over the 5- to 10-percent conversion rate possible with relatively inexpensive thin-film plastic solar cells, although a far cry from the most complex (and expensive) solar cells, which have achieved a conversion rate as high as 41.6 percent.




http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/hybrid-solar-panels_1.jpg

--------------------------------------------------

Are Engines the Future of Solar Power? (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=are-engines-the-future-of-solar-power)

[M II A II R II K]

Microscopic Solar Cells Could See More Sunlight


January 05, 2010

By Katherine Bourzac

Read More: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/24295/?a=f

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have shrunk silicon solar cells down to the micro scale, opening new possibilities for improved efficiency. Multi-crystalline silicon, currently the gold standard for solar-cell efficiency, is expensive and produces cells that are heavy and brittle. Sandia's microscopic silicon solar cells use 100 times less material while operating with the same efficiency.

- In addition to lower materials costs, the smaller scale of these cells means they could be incorporated into compact optical systems for cheaper light-tracking and concentration. Researchers might even suspend them in inks that could be printed onto plastic to make efficient, flexible silicon-solar modules.




http://www.technologyreview.com/files/36125/micro_solar_x220.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Solar Industry Says End Fossil Fuel Subsidies And Expect A Solar Boom


12.29.09

by Daniel Kessler

Read More: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/solar-industry-fifteen-percent.php

A report by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) found that power from the sun could generate 15 percent of America's power in the next decade, but only if Washington levels the playing field on subsidies. The fossil fuel industry, led by oil and coal, received $72 billion in total federal subsidies from 2002 to 2008, but earlier this year President Obama called for those subsidies to end.

- Additionally, the amount of solar energy could jump from today's 1,500 MW to 350,000 MW by 2020. A new grid would be needed to distribute the additional energy, and a global deal among the G20 countries to phase out dirty energy subsidies would have to actually happen.

[M II A II R II K]

WcWSI03NKo0

[M II A II R II K]

Solar cells made through oil-and-water 'self-assembly'


12 January 2010

Read More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8452912.stm

Researchers have demonstrated a simple, cheap way to create self-assembling electronic devices using a property crucial to salad dressings.

- It uses the fact that oil- and water-based liquids do not mix, forming devices from components that align along the boundary between the two.

- In this approach, "blank" devices are etched with depressions to match precisely-shaped components. Simply dumped into a liquid, the components should settle down into the blank device like sand onto a riverbed, in just the right places.

[M II A II R II K]

2,400-Foot-Tall Solar Turbines To Power Arizona


01.07.2010

By Stuart Fox

Read More: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-01/2400-foot-tall-solar-turbines-power-arizona

Today's solar power plants work either through photovoltaics or heated steam. If Enviromission gets its way, tomorrow's plants will combine wind and solar, with acre-sized mirrors and multi-thousand-foot-tall chimneys generating turbine-spinning gusts. The technology's called solar updraft, and a $750 million, 200-megawatt project may just bring Enviromission's future into the present.

The plants work by generating pressure differentials between warm and cool air at the surface. Four acres of solar panels sit around a 2,400-foot-tall chimney, and above turbine-laden tunnels. The panels heat the air closer to the chimney far faster than the air at the ends of the tunnels. The warmer, less dense air then serves as a partial vacuum, drawing in the colder, denser air at the edges through the tunnels fast enough to spin the turbines and generate electricity.




http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/solarupdraft-ed01.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Scientists Grow Cheap Biodegradable Solar Using Tobacco


by Jerry James Stone, San Francisco, CA on 01.29.10

Read More: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/scientists_create_cheap_biodegradable_spray-on_solar_cells_with_tobacco.php

Researchers at UC Berkeley have hacked tobacco plants to grow synthetic photovoltaic cells which can then be extracted and sprayed onto any substrate to create solar cells.

How? The scientists tweaked a few genes within the tobacco mosaic virus to build tiny structures called chromophores. Once the plant is sprayed with the virus, the new chromophores will group into tightly coiled formations. Chromophores are structures that turn light into high powered electrons.

Each formation is hundreds of nanometers long and about three nanometers away from its neighbor. That spacing is very important. Just one atom closer would impede any electrical current. Harvesting the electrons would be nearly impossible.

"Over billions of years, evolution has established exactly the right distances between chromophore to allow them to collect and use light from the sun with unparalleled efficiency," said Matt Francis. "We are trying to mimic these finely tuned systems using the tobacco mosaic virus."




http://www.treehugger.com/tobacco-solar.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

New twist on solar cell design


15 February 2010

Stuart Gary

http://www.abc.net.au/science/img/2007/abcScience.png

Read More: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/02/15/2818151.htm

Scientists in the US have developed a new flexible and lightweight solar cell, which uses a fraction the amount of silicon used in conventional cells, while still achieving high light conversion rates.

Reporting in journal Nature Materials Professor Harry Atwater of the Caltech and colleagues believe their new design could be used in applications ranging from car sun roofs to devices in clothing.

The key is to the cells high efficiency is its use of small micrometre sized rods of silicon instead of traditional silicon wafers.

Incoming light bounces back and forth multiple times between the rods in the panel until it's absorbed.

Small alumina nano-particle reflectors are placed between the rods to ensure the light is guided as efficiently as possible.

The scientists claim up to 85% of usable sunlight is absorbed by the new panels, compared to approximately 17% efficiency with current commerically available solar cells.

Atwater says the silicon wire arrays offer a mechanically flexible alternative to conventional silicon wafer photovoltaics, and are much better at absorping in the near-infrared spectrum.

This allows overall sunlight absorption to exceed that of an equivalent volume of randomly textured silicon panels over a wide range of sunlight angles.




http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200712/r208168_796023.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

World’s biggest solar-powered boat unveiled


25 Feb 2010

Read More: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-02-25-worlds-biggest-solar-powered-boat-unveiled/

KIEL, Germany—A skipper hoping to become the first to sail round the world using solar power said his catamaran could carve a wake for pollution-free shipping as he unveiled the record-breaking yacht Thursday. “This is a unique feeling to see in front of me today a boat which I so often dreamed about,” said Raphael Domjan as the covers came off the $24 million boat, the world’s biggest solar-powered vessel.

PlanetSolar, a 100-by-50-foot white catamaran, has been designed to reach a top speed of around 15 knots, equivalent to 15 miles per hour, and can hold up to 50 passengers. It is topped by 5,380 square feet of black solar panels, with a bright white cockpit sticking up in the center.

Constructed at the Knierim Yacht Club in Kiel in northern Germany, its state-of-the-art design also means it will be able to slice smoothly through the waves even in choppy waters.

Domjan will launch PlanetSolar in late March before starring at Hamburg port’s 821st anniversary celebrations in May and undergoing testing between June and September. The world tour will then start in April 2011.




http://www.grist.org/phpThumb/phpThumb.php?src=http://www.grist.org/i/assets/2/planetsolar-boat.jpg&w=307

[M II A II R II K]

France builds world's biggest photovoltaic solar plant


March 2, 2010

Read More: http://www.physorg.com/news186770590.html

French energy giant EDF is building the world's biggest photovoltaic solar power plant at an abandoned NATO air base and plans to have it open by 2012, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Jean-Marc Dall'Aglio, of EDF's green energy subsidiary EDF-EN, said the 415 hectare (1,025 acre) site in Toul-Rosieres, near the eastern city of Metz, would produce 143 megawatts, enough for a town of 62,000 people.

The current largest photovoltaic plant is at Olmedilla in Spain, producing 60 megawatts. Several much larger plants are under construction in the United States and Australia and might beat the French contender.

Toul-Rosieres will quadruple nuclear-dependent France's photovoltaic power output, but still leave it far behind sunny Spain and Germany, which generate 1,671 MW and 1,505 MW respectively.

Dall'Aglio said it was difficult to find sites large enough for the huge arrays of solar panels needed to generate a viable amount of power, insisting that EDF was always looking for more.

Asked why the latest one was to be sited in cloudy Lorraine rather than the sunny south, he said that the state had decided to increase the tariff paid to solar energy producers in gloomy regions to encourage investment.

"We're hunting all the time, everywhere. In Toul-Rosieres the advantage is that the site is available straight away," he said, adding that EDF would pay the government rent of around a million euros (1.35 million dollars) a year.

Some 150 people will be involved in building the plant, including the work of removing asbestos from around 100 abandoned military structures, and once it is open it will employ 15 permanent staff, he added.




http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/toulrosieres.jpg

[leftopolis]

Fascinating thread--many new bookmarks for in depth perusal!

I actually have a solar question that I was hoping one of the other solar enthusiasts could point me to a website that could help me figure out the answer.

A little background:

The local school district has been covering all the high-school parking lots with a "roof" of solar panels--evidently they expect to get a substantial percentage of each school's power needs this way--with the added benefit of shading the cars from the hot summer sun.

On another thread, I read that the "Desertexpress" is expecting to start construction later this year. For those unfamiliar--it's a high-speed-rail that would go from Las Vegas to Victorville, CA and then on to Palmdale in order to essentially be fully connected with the new CA HSR in the works, connecting SoCal with NorCal--and thus, Las Vegas with all the big California cities.

It occurred to me that the 185 mile stretch through the desert, would benefit from just that type of solar panel "roof"--throughout the full length:
--It would provide power, something HSR needs alot of.
--It would provide shade for the tracks. It's my understanding they can warp/buckle in extreme temps, and that area can hit 120F in the summer!
--It would also provide shade for the train, which should at least slightly reduce air-conditioning needs on it, thus saving some power.
--I don't see a drawback, in the sense that the space is already being used for tracks, so why not use the space above the tracks and train in order to make it more efficient energy-wise and safer?

Finally, to my question:
I've determined that 185 miles x 10ft(random, easy figure to use), works out to 224 acres of solar panels! What I'm trying to figure out is, how much power would that produce potentially(given that the sun shines almost everyday of the year)?

If anybody can guide me to a site that will help me figure it out, I'd appreciate it. BTW, a metric site is OK, too--I can do math. Ultimately, I want to come up with a figure for the power produced and compare it to the expected power needs of the train itself. I'll be happy to report my findings here, if there's interest.

Thanks in advance.

[M II A II R II K]

Beautiful Solar Balloon Collects Energy From High in the Sky



by Kristi Bernick, 03/26/10

Read More: http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/03/26/beautiful-solar-balloon-collects-energy-from-high-in-the-sky/

Designer Seongyong Lee recently blew us away with her beautiful design for a Solar Balloon that can collect energy straight from the sky. Based on the idea that the most efficient way to collect solar energy is from high above the earth, the balloon features a new breed of colorful dye-sensitized solar cells and is easily able to clear blocking structures such as buildings or trees.

Seongyong Lee’s Solar Balloon is composed of a fluid interweaving of colorful dye solar cell panels combined with an unknown white material whose panels pivot downward. LED lights are attached along the joints where the white and colored dye-solar cell panels come together, highlighting the twisting curves around the balloon’s form. To optimize the gathering of energy from the sun, the dye-solar panels direct upward while the white panels face back down to earth.

The collected energy is stored in a charger located in the base of the balloon. Energy collected in this model only lights the LEDs, however if it were produced to actual scale, the excess energy stored could provide enough power for many purposes including the operation of street lights. One may easily confuse this floating Balloon with a UFO, since it will be lighting the night sky with a unique and colorful pattern. Solar Balloon has a 7 meter diameter and is 10 meters in height. When grounded, the balloon’s base is 7 meters in height making the grounded height of the balloon a total of 17 meters tall.




http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/image11.jpg

http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/image31.jpg

[Krases]

(quoted from another thread)

That makes no sense at all--why would you compare solar with coal, just based on the cost of producing power? The cost of coal includes the resulting acceleration of rapid global climate change(from CO2), the health effects of the air pollution, and the destruction of the environment.


Personally, I totally support solar power. The people I often argue against though think that global warming is an evil liberal conspiracy. They also live and vote in my community, so the only way I can appeal to them is by citing the explicit economic costs instead of the implicit.


Put up photovoltaics in NV--then you can stop claiming the cannard that solar needs water. The even bigger fallacy of logic, is claiming a comparison with coal without mentioning the real costs.

Photovoltaics are more expensive than power towers.

The people I argue with don't use logic is the problem, but still cast their vote. I know just as well as anyone that global warming is a serious threat, but when I point to the costs of global warming, I get waved off as an "environmental elitist". So instead I take the most direct route straight to their wallets.

[leftopolis]

Krases:

...The people I often argue against though think that global warming is an evil liberal conspiracy...

Interesting. I've never met anybody like that(with backwards beliefs ignoring decades of science)in my half-century of life. I have heard they exist, though! It sounds like your approach is the most workable, given the situation.

I don't have any other ideas to add, but I'm also a bit under the weather, so another post from me may be a little while. Thanks for the response.

***************************

ScienceDaily (Mar. 3, 2009) (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090219152130.htm)

Cost Of Installed Solar Photovoltaic Systems Drops Significantly Over The Last Decade

A new study on the installed costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the U.S. shows that the average cost of these systems declined significantly from 1998 to 2007, but remained relatively flat during the last two years of this period.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) who conducted the study say that the overall decline in the installed cost of solar PV systems is mostly the result of decreases in nonmodule costs, such as the cost of labor, marketing, overhead, inverters, and the balance of systems.

“This suggests that state and local PV deployment programs — which likely have a greater impact on nonmodule costs than on module prices — have been at least somewhat successful in spurring cost reductions,” states the report, which was written by Ryan Wiser, Galen Barbose, and Carla Peterman of Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division.

Installations of solar PV systems have grown at a rapid rate in the U.S., and governments have offered various incentives to expand the solar market.
“A goal of government incentive programs is to help drive the cost of PV systems lower. One purpose of this study is to provide reliable information about the costs of installed systems over time,” says Wiser.
The study examined 37,000 grid-connected PV systems installed between 1998 and 2007 in 12 states. It found that average installed costs, in terms of real 2007 dollars per installed watt, declined from $10.50 per watt in 1998 to $7.60 per watt in 2007, equivalent to an average annual reduction of 30 cents per watt or 3.5 percent per year in real dollars.
The researchers found that the reduction in nonmodule costs was responsible for most of the overall decline in costs. According to the report, this trend, along with a reduction in the number of higher-cost “outlier” installations, suggests that state and local PV-deployment policies have achieved some success in fostering competition within the industry and in spurring improvements in the cost structure and efficiency of the delivery infrastructure for solar power.

~cont'd @ link~

[M II A II R II K]

Harnessing Sunlight to Convert Carbon Dioxide to Liquid Fuel


April 21, 2010

by John Messina

Read More: http://www.physorg.com/news191076348.html

This eco-friendly system requires no agricultural land or fresh water and is capable of producing more than 20,000 gallons of renewable ethanol or hydrocarbons per acre annually. Bill Sims, president and CEO of Joule Biotechnologies stated: “There is no question that viable, renewable fuels are vitally important, both for economic and environmental reasons. And while many novel approaches have been explored, none has been able to clear the roadblocks caused by high production costs, environmental burden and lack of real scale”.

Bill Sims went on to say; “Joule was created for the very purpose of eliminating these roadblocks with the best equation of biotechnology, engineering, scalability and pricing to finally make renewable fuel a reality—all while helping the environment by reducing global CO2 emissions.”

By leveraging highly-engineered photosynthetic organisms to catalyze the conversion of sunlight and CO2, usable liquid fuels and chemicals can be manufactured. This “SolarConverter” system assist the process capturing the sunlight to product conversion and separation using minimal resources. This diverts from established processes of biomass derived biofuels such as algae and cellulose-based forms which are costly, involves many processing steps and substantial scale-up risk.




http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2-harnessingsu.jpg

[Vanzetti]

http://depletedcranium.com/what-is-a-megawatt/

Read it and weep. Your puny solar power is nothing compared to what actually powers humanity.

[speedy1979]

http://depletedcranium.com/what-is-a-megawatt/

Read it and weep. Your puny solar power is nothing compared to what actually powers humanity.

Everything that is big began with something that was puny. Solar may be puny now, but it won't be that way forever.

[Vanzetti]

Everything that is big began with something that was puny.

However, only few of things that are puny eventually become big.

[M II A II R II K]

With Flyovers, a Solar Map of New York


May 9th, 2010

By MIREYA NAVARRO

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/science/earth/10mapping.html?hpw

While most residents were sleeping, a twin-engine Shrike Commander flew serial missions over the city recently, cruising low like Superman and back and forth like a lawn mower. Equipped with a laser system, the plane collected highly precise images of the city, its rooftops, trees, wetlands and much of what lies in between. The early morning flyovers are expected to yield the most detailed three-dimensional picture of New York City to date, with an emphasis on structures, elevations, sun and shade, and nooks and crannies relevant to the city’s emergency response system and its environmental goals.

The data will be used, among other things, to create up-to-date maps of the areas most prone to flooding, the buildings best suited for the installation of solar power and the neighborhoods most in need of trees. An advisory panel of experts formed by the mayor has warned that the city must prepare for more rain and an increased risk of coastal flooding in the coming decades as a result of global climate change.

Rohit T. Aggarwala, the director of the city’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, said the effort would result in a picture of New York’s physical space “in far more detail than what we had before.” The effort, which will cost about $450,000, is part of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s broader environmental agenda, known as PlaNYC. The current flood plain maps used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency date to the 1980s and were based on aerial photography and ground surveys. The maps are not as accurate or precise as they should be for the density of the city, Mr. Aggarwala said, and the new data could lead to zoning changes and stricter building codes, among other adjustments.




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[scalziand]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=18671

Original Solar Cell Inventor Scores $1.07M Millennium Prize

Tiffany Kaiser

Scientist and professor of photonics and interfaces at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, Michael Graetzel, won the Millennium Technology Prize of $1.07 million for his dye-sensitized solar cells, also known as "Graetzel cells."

These new dye-sensitized solar cells are low in cost, and can work on a broad scale. Graetzel cells do not require a large setup to manufacture, they should be considerably less expensive than solid-state cell designs in bulk, they're mechanically robust and can be engineered into flexible sheets. They also require no protection from minor elements such as tree strikes or hail.
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/15038_large_handheldcell.png

[M II A II R II K]

"Most Solar Town in America" Will Use 85% Solar Energy


Jun 10, 2010

By Ariel Schwartz

Read More: http://www.fastcompany.com/1658585/skyline-solar-to-power-most-solar-town-in-america

It has been just over a year since Skyline Solar unveiled its low-cost, high-efficiency High Gain Solar Arrays (HGS). And today, just a month after being fast-tracked through U.S. Commerce Department’s Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) green-tech patent application process, Skyline announced its latest high-profile project: an 80 kilowatt solar plant that will power 85% of Nipton, California. That's the highest percentage of solar electricity used in any town in the U.S.

There's just one catch: Nipton only has a population of 20 people. Visitors often pass through the tiny town on the way to Joshua Tree National Park or Mojave National Reserve, so the solar news isn't inconsequential. Energy independence has to start somewhere, so why not a sleepy town in the Mojave Desert?




Skyline Solar will power the town with low-cost technology that was just recently patented.

http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/skyline3.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Michael Grätzel's Solar Cells Get Stylish With Color and Translucent Materials


Jun 18, 2010

By Ariel Schwartz

Read More: http://www.fastcompany.com/1661787/michael-graetzel

Michael Grätzel may be the closest thing to a living legend in the solar energy world. A professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the Swiss scientist discovered a new type of thin-film solar cell--dubbed the dye-sensitized solar cell (aka the Grätzel cell)--in 1991. Now, nearly two decades later, Grätzel's invention is taking off, with companies like Konarka, Hydrogen Solar, and Sony developing the cells for commercial use.

Grätzel's cells, which are inspired by the photosynthetic process, consist of a porous layer of titanium dioxide nanoparticles covered with a sunlight-absorbing molecular dye. The cells currently have a lower efficiency than single crystal silicon cells, and Grätzel's technology offers a number of advantages. In a traditional silicon solar cell, the silicon acts as both a source of photoelectronics and an electric field. But in a dye-sensitized solar cell, the semiconductor is only used for transport, while the photoelectrons come from a separate photosensitive dye. As more research yields higher-efficiency Grätzel cells, companies need only switch out their dyes--the rest of the production process stays the same.

Dye-sensitized solar cells have another distinct advantage: The dyes can be manufactured in an array of colors. The Sunny Memories project, featured earlier this month at New York's Center for Architecture, exploited this feature with colorful solar designs. Grätzel's cells can also be made translucent--a first in the solar industry. "In this respect they have a unique application, like for electric power-producing windows and glass facades," he says.




http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/45Acedia.jpg

http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/46_Kusto.jpg

[scalziand]

http://www.physorg.com/news196355743.html


Life of plastic solar cell jumps from hours to 8 months

A team of researchers from the University of Alberta and the National Institute for Nanotechnology has extended the operating life of an unsealed plastic solar cell, from mere hours to eight months.

The research groups' development of an inexpensive, readily available plastic solar cell technology hit a wall because of a chemical leeching problem within the body of the prototype. A chemical coating on an electrode was unstable and migrated through the circuitry of the cell.

Prior to the polymer coating breakthrough the research team's plastic solar cell could only operate at high capacity for about ten hours.

When Rider and his research co authors presented their paper to the journal, Advanced Functional Materials, their plastic solar cell had performed at high capacity for 500 hours. But it kept on working for another seven months. The team says the unit eventually stopped working when it was damaged during transit between laboratories.

[M II A II R II K]

Millennium Technology Prize winner creates 'solar windows'


06/10/10

By Timon Singh

http://www.euinfrastructure.com/media/site-images/INFRAEU/EUInfra_Logo.jpg

Read More: http://www.euinfrastructure.com/news/millennium-technology-prize/

Professor Michael Gratzel of the Lausanne Federal Technology Institute has won the Millennium Technology Prize of €800,000 (GBP£660,000) for his innovative low-cost solar cell that could be utilised to build electricity generating windows. Using nature as an inspiration, Gratzel's solar cell mimics natural plant photosynthesis in how plant-life turns light into energy. These dye-sensitized solar cells as they' re known could "provide a more affordable way of harnessing solar energy" and lead to the development of electricity-generating windows and mobile solar panels.

- Explaining the technology behind the Gratzel cells, which also rely on nanotechnology to produce power from sunlight, Gratzel said, "We are using nanocrystal films in which the particles are so small, they don't scatter light. You can imagine using those cells as electricity producing windows." "What's very exciting is that you collect light from all sides, so can capture electricity from the inside as well as the outside. You could think that the glass of all high-rises in New York would be electricity generating panels." It is indeed an intriguing idea that the technology, when used in sunnier environments such as the UAE, could transform the power systems of cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.




http://www.euinfrastructure.com/media/media-news/news-thumb/100610/dye-sensitized_solar_cells.png

[marchse]

Solar power is a natural resource where it can be used for domestic needs and also in large scale industries..
Surely it is a reliable one in power conservation.

[202_Cyclist]

Here Comes the Sun-Powered Infrastructure

Solar Equipment Is Becoming More Common on the Road—One Day It May Even Be the Road

By Karl Vilacoba
Intransition Magazine

Spring/Summer 2010

http://www.intransitionmag.org/Spring-Summer_2010/solar_transportation_infrastructure.aspx

As a childhood car nut, Scott Brusaw dreamed of a world paved with “electric roads,” often drawing highways with power-supplying slots down the middle like the popular toy racetrack sets. Brusaw never shook the idea, even after he grew up and his thoughts turned to a more grown-up issue—climate change. In 2006, the scientific curiosities of his youth and adult years were married thanks to his wife, Julie, who knew Brusaw back in his days as a kid sci-fi artist.

http://www.intransitionmag.org/Spring-Summer_2010/Images/xwalk.jpg
Scott Brusaw stands on a 12-by-12-foot prototype of the Solar Roadway, recently completed at his Sagle, Idaho, lab.

“One day Julie was out there gardening and she says, ‘Couldn’t you make your electric roads out of solar panels?’ And I laughed at first and thought, you couldn’t drive over a solar panel. You’d crush it,” Brusaw said. “But then we started batting the idea back and forth and thinking if you made a structurally engineered case that could withstand heavy loads and semi-trucks, you could put anything inside it—including solar cells.”

With the help of a $100,000 U.S. Department of Transportation grant, the Brusaws’ Sagle, Idaho-based company, Solar Roadways, recently completed a 12-by-12-foot prototype. It’s a small start to what they hope will one day make a significant impact on the nation’s energy policies.

From game-changing to subtle, businesses and entrepreneurs across the U.S. are developing transportation infrastructure that relies on solar power rather than the grid. Because the products are expensive, and convincing early adopters to try them can be difficult, many will never experience their moment in the sun commercially. But some inventors, like Brusaw, may see their childhood dreams come true.

Solar Roadways
So what exactly would an “electric road” do? For starters, it could lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil, help preserve the environment, revolutionize driver safety and provide a wealth of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) capabilities, according to Brusaw.


http://www.intransitionmag.org/Spring-Summer_2010/Images/Solar%20Roadway%20credit%20Dan%20Walden.jpg
This artist's rendering offers a glimpse of Solar Roadways founders Scott and Julie Brusaw's vision of the future--a highway system paved with solar panels.

The Solar Roadways design has three layers—a super-hard, translucent surface; a center layer of electronics, solar cells and light-emitting diodes (LEDs); and a base plate layer that distributes power and data. The electricity generated by Solar Roadways could be fed into the grid, power nearby buildings or used to recharge electric cars. At night, LED road stripes would light up to guide motorists.

Brusaw envisions a number of “smart” functions for these roads. Electronic components might record data like traffic volume and speeds and wirelessly transmit it to services that aggregate such information to produce traffic reports. Squares in crosswalks could help alert motorists to pedestrians with pressure sensors that light up beneath their feet, not unlike the sidewalk in Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” video. The same concept could be applied to highways, with the lights indicating where animals recently crossed, tipping off drivers to the potential hazard ahead....

[brian.odonnell20]

Has the cost of solar energy dropped/will it drop more and more ?

[M II A II R II K]

Is Solar Power Now Cheaper Than Nuclear Energy?


Jul 29, 2010

By Ariel Schwartz

Read More: http://www.fastcompany.com/1675672/is-solar-power-now-cheaper-than-nuclear-energy

Solar power took a big step toward becoming the alternative energy of choice with this week's news that energy from sunlight might be cheaper than nuclear power. The analysis, which comes from a Duke University report entitled Solar and Nuclear Costs: The Historic Crossover, claims that, "Electricity from new solar installations is now cheaper than electricity from proposed new nuclear plants" in North Carolina. The reason, according to the study, is a dramatic drop of the price of solar in recent years combined with an increase in the price of nuclear. In 2002, construction cost estimates for new nuclear power plants were in the $3 billion per reactor range. As new design and engineering problems emerge, construction costs continue to rise--now nuclear plants are estimated to cost $10 billion per reactor. And price isn't even the half of it. The study (PDF) reasons:

Solar electricity has numerous advantages other than cost. Rooftop solar can be installed in a few days. Small incremental gains in total generating capacity start producing electricity immediately. One does not have to wait ten years for huge blocks of new capacity to come online. Solar panels leave no radioactive wastes. They do not consume billions of gallons of cooling water each year. There are no national security issues with solar installations. An accident would be a small local affair, not a catastrophe.

This doesn't mean that we should completely ditch nuclear power. The Duke analysis argues that solar's status as an intermittent power source (it only works when the sun shines) is irrelevant because of smart grid technologies that optimize the energy mix. And the upfront costs for nuclear are astronomical compared to the cost of implementing, say, a rooftop solar system, but the fact remains that nuclear plants can pump out energy 24 hours a day. Solar plants can't. A long-lasting nuclear plant will most likely generate more energy per dollar invested than a solar plant ever could.




http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/nuclearpower.jpg

[brian.odonnell20]

so commercialized, mass produced, affordable solar energy generators and devices are still about a decade away ?

[MalcolmTucker]

so commercialized, mass produced, affordable solar energy generators and devices are still about a decade away ?

Like they have been for the past 30 years - and the fact remains, you still need a backup for every kw of solar juice.

[M II A II R II K]

And will probably get taxed somehow to use it too.

[M II A II R II K]

Solar Power Could Soon Compete with Oil


Aug 4, 2010

Read More: http://spacefellowship.com/news/art21587/solar-power-could-soon-compete-with-oil.html

Unlike photovoltaic technology currently used in solar panels – which becomes less efficient as the temperature rises – the new process excels at higher temperatures. Called “photon enhanced thermionic emission,” or PETE, the process promises to surpass the efficiency of existing photovoltaic and thermal conversion technologies. “This is really a conceptual breakthrough, a new energy conversion process, not just a new material or a slightly different tweak,” said Nick Melosh, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, who led the research group. “It is actually something fundamentally different about how you can harvest energy.”

And the materials needed to build a device to make the process work are cheap and easily available, meaning the power that comes from it will be affordable. Melosh is senior author of a paper describing the tests the researchers conducted. It was published online Aug. 1 in Nature Materials. “Just demonstrating that the process worked was a big deal,” Melosh said. “And we showed this physical mechanism does exist; it works as advertised.” Most photovoltaic cells, such as those used in rooftop solar panels, use the semiconducting material silicon to convert the energy from photons of light to electricity. But the cells can only use a portion of the light spectrum, with the rest just generating heat.



CEl-PfrSdb0

[M II A II R II K]

Solar funnel


Anne Trafton, MIT News Office

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/templates/mit/images/newslogo.gif

Read More: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/solar-antenna-0913.html

Solar cells are usually grouped in large arrays, often on rooftops, because each cell can generate only a limited amount of power. However, not every building has enough space for a huge expanse of solar panels. Using carbon nanotubes (hollow tubes of carbon atoms), MIT chemical engineers have found a way to concentrate solar energy 100 times more than a regular photovoltaic cell. Such nanotubes could form antennas that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller and more powerful solar arrays.

“Instead of having your whole roof be a photovoltaic cell, you could have little spots that were tiny photovoltaic cells, with antennas that would drive photons into them,” says Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and leader of the research team.

Strano and his students describe their new carbon nanotube antenna, or “solar funnel,” in the Sept. 12 online edition of the journal Nature Materials. Lead authors of the paper are postdoctoral associate Jae-Hee Han and graduate student Geraldine Paulus.

Their new antennas might also be useful for any other application that requires light to be concentrated, such as night-vision goggles or telescopes. The work was funded by a National Science Foundation Career Award, a Sloan Fellowship, the MIT-Dupont Alliance and the Korea Research Foundation.




This filament containing about 30 million carbon nanotubes absorbs energy from the sun as photons and then re-emits photons of lower energy, creating the fluorescence seen here. The red regions indicate highest energy intensity, and green and blue are lower intensity.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice//images/article_images/20100910095802-1.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

'Jellyfish' smoothies offer solar solutions


http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/09/27/jellyfish.solar.power/index.html?hpt=Sbin


- Scientists say by liquidizing the humble Aequorea victoria -- a glow-in-the-dark jellyfish commonly found off the western coast of North America -- they can use the green fluorescent protein (GFP) it contains to create miniature fuel cells. These, say their creators, could be used to power microscopic "nanodevices" that could operate independently inside the human body, helping reverse blindness or fight tumors.

- Zackary Chiragwandi at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden told CNN he has developed a method of generating power at a nano-level by administration a droplet of jellyfish-type GFP onto aluminum electrodes and exposing it to ultraviolet light. The technique, he says, is more foolproof than existing light-powered cells, doing away with the need for expensive and tricky titanium elements found in "Gratzel cells" -- acclaimed solar-power fuel cells that mimic plant photosynthesis.

- Chiragwandi says his cell can even utilize enzymes from fireflies and Renilla reniformis sea pansies to create its own light source, making it completely self-contained. In Chiragwandi's "biophotovoltaic nanodevice," electrons flow through a circuit when light hits the green fluorescent protein. He says this generates a current measuring "tens of nano amperes." The amount may seem negligible, but if scaled up would appear to offer a more efficient power supply than existing solar cells.

- "The output characteristics of the biophotovoltaic nanodevice are comparable with those of earlier reported high efficiency solar cells," says Chiragwandi, adding that the power cells could be deployed within one or two years. "The biological fuels may be a means to independently power nanotechnology embedded in a living organism, such as diagnostic, medical or even communication devices residing within a living organism without need for an external electrical power source," he says.




http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/TECH/innovation/09/27/jellyfish.solar.power/t1larg.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Researchers Develop Reactor to Make Fuel From Sunlight


Dec 27, 2010

By Damian Carrington

Read More: http://shatterlimits.com/researchers-develop-reactor-to-make-fuel-from-sunlight/

A simple reactor that mimics plants by turning sunlight into fuel has been demonstrated in the laboratory, boosting hopes for a large-scale renewable source of liquid fuel. “We have a big energy problem and we have to think big,” said Prof Sossina Haile, at the California Institute of Technology, who led the research. Haile estimates that a rooftop reactor could produce about three gallons of fuel a day. She thinks transport fuels would be the first application of the reactor, if it goes on to commercial use.

But she said an equally important use for the renewable fuels would be to store solar energy so it is available at times of peak demand, and overnight. She says the first improvements that will be made to the existing reactor will be to improve the insulation to help stop heat loss, a simple move that she expects to treble the current efficiency.

The key component is made from the metal cerium, which is almost as abundant as copper, unlike other rare and expensive metals frequently used as catalysts, such as platinum. Therefore, said Haile, availability would not limit the use of the device. “There is nothing cost prohibitive in our set-up,” she said. “And there is plenty of cerium for this technology to make a major contribution to global gasoline supplies.”

The fossil fuels used by vehicles, ships and aeroplanes pose the biggest challenge in the search for low-carbon energy, as they are highly energy-dense and portable, unlike alternatives such as batteries or nuclear reactors. An efficient, large-scale way of converting solar energy into a renewable liquid fuel could play a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and tackling climate change.

The device, reported in the journal Science, uses a standard parabolic mirror to focus the sun’s rays into a reaction chamber where the cerium oxide catalyst breaks down water and carbon dioxide. It does this because heating cerium oxide drives oxygen atoms out of its crystal lattice. When cooled the lattice strips oxygen from surrounding chemicals, including water and CO2 in the reactor. That produces hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which can be converted to a liquid fuel.

In the experiments the reactor cycled up to 1,600C then down to 800C over 500 times, without damaging the catalyst. “The trick here is the cerium oxide – it’s very refractory, it’s a rock,” said Haile. “But it still has this incredible ability to release oxygen. It can lose one in eight of its oxygen molecules.” Caltech has filed patents on this use of cerium oxide.




http://shatterlimits.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/shutterstock_39391570-210x152.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

China turns out first solar-powered air conditioner


http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/sci-edu/china/2010-12/600477.html

China's first solar-powered air conditioner that can also send excess electricity to the power grid began rolling off a Gree Electric Appliances production line Wednesday. The first 50,000 units will be sold in the American market. After that, the units will also be available for purchase in China, according to company sources.

The air conditioner, independently developed by Gree, mainly uses solar power, using normal electricity only when solar power is inadequate, said Huang Hui, chief engineer of Gree Electric Appliances. The American government is supporting efforts to send excess solar energy to local power grids, and so the model should be popular in America, said Huang.

[M II A II R II K]

Giant balloons floated as idea for Arctic lighting


http://www.vancouversun.com/Giant+balloons+floated+idea+Arctic+lighting/4107106/story.html#ixzz1BGKV1AwI

Two Ontario architecture students have big ideas on how to light up Arctic communities that remain dark through the winter months.

University of Waterloo students Virginia Fernandez and Claire Lubell, both 24, have won an honourable mention in an international architecture competition for their project called Buoyant Light.

The concept: Giant solar balloons that would hover by the shore and near major centres in a northern village. In the summer months, a device inside the balloons would collect sunlight; through the winter months, the balloons would give off light.

What's more, balloons over water could be attached to research buoys which collect information on tides, currents and temperature.

The devices would measure ice thickness and send that information to the balloon, which would change colour indicating when the frozen waterway is safe to travel on.

In the students' design proposal, Lubell and Fernandez used Igloolik, Nunavut as their model, because of the community's strong cultural and research activity.

"The balloons would be predominantly out over the water or ice," Lubell said, "and then some closer to town that would act as urban lighting."

The balloons over water would act as lighthouses and way-finding markers, Lubell said, while the balloons on shore could be clustered around main buildings to illuminate public gatherings.

[M II A II R II K]

New reactor paves the way for efficiently producing fuel from sunlight


January 19, 2011

By Kathy Svitil

http://cdn.physorg.com/tmpl/default/img/logo.gif

Read More: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-reactor-paves-efficiently-fuel-sunlight.html

Sossina Haile and William Chueh next to the benchtop thermochemical reactor used to screen materials for implementation on the solar reactor. Solar energy has long been touted as the solution to our energy woes, but while it is plentiful and free, it can't be bottled up and transported from sunny locations to the drearier—but more energy-hungry—parts of the world. The process developed by Haile—a professor of materials science and chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)—and her colleagues could make that possible.

The researchers designed and built a two-foot-tall prototype reactor that has a quartz window and a cavity that absorbs concentrated sunlight. The concentrator works "like the magnifying glass you used as a kid" to focus the sun's rays, says Haile. At the heart of the reactor is a cylindrical lining of ceria. Ceria—a metal oxide that is commonly embedded in the walls of self-cleaning ovens, where it catalyzes reactions that decompose food and other stuck-on gunk—propels the solar-driven reactions. The reactor takes advantage of ceria's ability to "exhale" oxygen from its crystalline framework at very high temperatures and then "inhale" oxygen back in at lower temperatures.

"What is special about the material is that it doesn't release all of the oxygen. That helps to leave the framework of the material intact as oxygen leaves," Haile explains. "When we cool it back down, the material's thermodynamically preferred state is to pull oxygen back into the structure." The ETH-Caltech solar reactor for producing H2 and CO from H2O and CO2 via the two-step thermochemical cycle with ceria redox reactions.

Specifically, the inhaled oxygen is stripped off of carbon dioxide (CO2) and/or water (H2O) gas molecules that are pumped into the reactor, producing carbon monoxide (CO) and/or hydrogen gas (H2). H2 can be used to fuel hydrogen fuel cells; CO, combined with H2, can be used to create synthetic gas, or "syngas," which is the precursor to liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Adding other catalysts to the gas mixture, meanwhile, produces methane. And once the ceria is oxygenated to full capacity, it can be heated back up again, and the cycle can begin anew.

For all of this to work, the temperatures in the reactor have to be very high—nearly 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. At Caltech, Haile and her students achieved such temperatures using electrical furnaces. But for a real-world test, she says, "we needed to use photons, so we went to Switzerland." At the Paul Scherrer Institute's High-Flux Solar Simulator, the researchers and their collaborators—led by Aldo Steinfeld of the institute's Solar Technology Laboratory—installed the reactor on a large solar simulator capable of delivering the heat of 1,500 suns.

.....




The ETH-Caltech solar reactor for producing H2 and CO from H2O and CO2 via the two-step thermochemical cycle with ceria redox reactions.

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/1-newreactorpa.jpg



This is the ETH-Caltech solar reactor for producing H2 and CO from H2O and CO2 via the two-step thermochemical cycle with ceria redox reactions. Credit: Courtesy of ETH

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/3-newreactorpa.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Solar power enters the plastic age


January 24, 2011

By Matthew Knight

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/3.0/global/header/intl/hdr-globe-east.gif

Read More: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/01/21/plastic.solar.panel.revolution/index.html

Cheaper and lighter compared to its more expensive, cumbersome silicon cousin, plastic photovoltaics (PV) could herald a revolution in the solar power market, according to a UK solar panel expert. "Plastics are much cheaper to process than silicon. In principle the devices we've been making might be very, very cheap and cover large areas," said David Lidzey from the UK's University of Sheffield. Unlike rigid silicon panels, plastic (or organic) PV is far more flexible making it easier to install, which Lidzey says could hand it a huge advantage.

"If you've got panels that almost roll up like a big sheet of wallpaper then that might be a very good way of powering developing countries," he said Polymer solar panels differ from most commercial plastics like polythene which are essentially insulators. Turning them from a material that prevents conductivity into ones that promote it requires chemists to "tweak their molecular structure," says Lidzey. But he says some everyday plastic products aren't a million miles away from the plastic PV he's researching.

"If you look at a (chip) packet, what you've got is a plastic film, a few layers of inks and a printed metal layer to keep the materials fresh. Rearrange the order of those layers and you get to a structure that's very similar to the PV devices we're looking at," Lidzey said. On of the leading lights in developing plastic PV is U.S.-based tech company, Konarka who are already applying their "Power Plastic" technology to a wide range of products including luggage and parasols. Larger arrays are also being fitted to street furniture, as can be seen with San Francisco's bus shelters. Researchers are also hopeful that buildings could also get the plastic treatment in the future.

In 2009, Konarka installed a "curtain wall" to an outside section of its Florida offices as part of a pilot project. Plastic PV, say the company, can absorb sunlight from "all sorts of ranges" allowing it to be installed onto vertical walls. Founded in 2001, Konarka are one of many companies trying to perfect the technology. And the news is increasingly promising. But there are some issues to be resolved before plastic can truly find its place in the sun. Whereas silicon has an efficiency of around 15-18%, plastic devices can only achieve 7-8% at best, currently.

.....

[M II A II R II K]

'Tall Order' Sunlight-to-Hydrogen System Works, Neutron Analysis Confirms


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110203152544.htm

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a biohybrid photoconversion system -- based on the interaction of photosynthetic plant proteins with synthetic polymers -- that can convert visible light into hydrogen fuel. Photosynthesis, the natural process carried out by plants, algae and some bacterial species, converts sunlight energy into chemical energy and sustains much of the life on earth. Researchers have long sought inspiration from photosynthesis to develop new materials to harness the sun's energy for electricity and fuel production.

In a step toward synthetic solar conversion systems, the ORNL researchers have demonstrated and confirmed with small-angle neutron scattering analysis that light harvesting complex II (LHC-II) proteins can self-assemble with polymers into a synthetic membrane structure and produce hydrogen.

The researchers envision energy-producing photoconversion systems similar to photovoltaic cells that generate hydrogen fuel, comparable to the way plants and other photosynthetic organisms convert light to energy. "Making a, self-repairing synthetic photoconversion system is a pretty tall order. The ability to control structure and order in these materials for self-repair is of interest because, as the system degrades, it loses its effectiveness," ORNL researcher Hugh O'Neill, of the lab's Center for Structural Molecular Biology, said.

"This is the first example of a protein altering the phase behavior of a synthetic polymer that we have found in the literature. This finding could be exploited for the introduction of self-repair mechanisms in future solar conversion systems," he said. Small angle neutron scattering analysis performed at ORNL's High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) showed that the LHC-II, when introduced into a liquid environment that contained polymers, interacted with polymers to form lamellar sheets similar to those found in natural photosynthetic membranes.




Neutron scattering analysis performed at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory reveals the lamellar structure of a hydrogen-producing, biohybrid composite material formed by the self-assembly of naturally occurring, light harvesting proteins with polymers. (Credit: Image courtesy of DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2011/02/110203152544-large.jpg

[JDRCRASH]

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

From the Los Angeles Times:

Lawsuit alleges solar projects would harm sacred Native American sites

Native American group and its allies sue to stop six solar facilities from being built in the Southern California desert, arguing that they would affect treasured geoglyphs, burial sites and relics.


http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-02/59656916.jpg



February 24, 2011|By Phil Willon and Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Blythe, Calif. — Stepping gingerly across a small mesa of manganese-stained stones, Alfredo Acosta Figueroa explained how the giant image of the creator etched into the earth guides the souls of mothers and children west toward Old Woman Mountain.

The image of Cicimiti, more detectable from the sky than on foot, is just one of many geoglyphs, Native American burial sites and ancient relics that Figueroa says are threatened by solar projects being fast-tracked near Blythe and other remote expanses in the Southern California desert. . . . . . .

Source: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/24/local/la-me-solar-suit-20110224

[M II A II R II K]

Solar Power May Already Rival Coal, Prompting Installation Surge


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-05/solar-energy-costs-may-already-rival-coal-spurring-installation-boom.html

Solar panel installations may surge in the next two years as the cost of generating electricity from the sun rivals coal-fueled plants, industry executives and analysts said. Large photovoltaic projects will cost $1.45 a watt to build by 2020, half the current price, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimated today. The London-based research company says solar is viable against fossil fuels on the electric grid in the most sunny regions such as the Middle East.

“We are already in this phase change and are very close to grid parity,” Shawn Qu, chief executive officer of Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ), said in an interview. “In many markets, solar is already competitive with peak electricity prices, such as in California and Japan.” Chinese companies such as JA Solar Holdings Ltd., Canadian Solar and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. are making panels cheaper, fueled by better cell technology and more streamlined manufacturing processes. That’s making solar economical in more places and will put it in competition with coal, without subsidies, in the coming years, New Energy Finance said.

.....

[rocketman_95046]

U.S. Photovoltaic Project Order Backlog Now Surpasses 12 GW
in News Departments > New & Noteworthy by SI Staff on Wednesday 06 April 2011
http://www.solarindustrymag.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.7645comments: 0

The solar photovoltaic project order backlog for the U.S. market has now soared past 12 GW, according to the latest edition of the Solarbuzz United States Deal Tracker report.

Although the PV industry is facing the effects of large cuts in feed-in tariffs across Europe, the order backlog in the U.S. confirms that the country will be one of the most promising growth markets over the next 24 months, Solarbuzz says. The U.S. market doubled in size in 2010 and is forecast to do so again this year.

The April edition of the report logs over 375 nonresidential projects in the U.S. project pipeline being planned or going through a request for proposal process. It also includes an additional 775 projects that total 0.7 GW of PV systems either installed or being installed since Jan. 1, 2010.

Nonresidential PV systems in the US market range from just 50 kW up to hundreds of megawatts. Even with the growing utility presence in the market, the corporate and government sub-segments still have 76% of the completed projects since Jan. 1, 2010, Solarbuzz says.

Utility-scale projects under development are found in 29 states, but four states account for 80% of this total (measured in MW). This segment is increasingly being serviced by specialist project developers, but also directly by major cell and module manufacturers acting in that role. The top 10 developers account for 57% of the utility pipeline in megawatt terms.

"The nonresidential segment has traditionally been driven by corporate and government customers," says Craig Stevens, president of Solarbuzz. "As renewable portfolio standards take effect, utilities have become a key driver of medium-term market growth.”

The top 10 states for non-residential PV projects are California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, Nevada and Florida, according to the report.

Over 260 different installation companies are servicing the identified 1,150 nonresidential projects that buy their modules either directly from manufacturers or through distributors. First Solar, Suntech Power, Sharp, Yingli Green Energy and SolarWorld are the most represented module manufacturers in this segment.

The installed system pricing data shows that the largest US projects are now being completed in the range of $3 to 4 per watt DC. The reduction in nonresidential PV system prices is key to stimulating US market growth.

SOURCE: Solarbuzz

[M II A II R II K]

Cities Use Brownfields to Go Solar


April 13, 2011

http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/sites/sustainablecitiescollective.com/themes/bones-SCC/images/logo.png

Read More: http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/dirt/23753/cities-use-brownfields-go-solar

New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia increasingly view their contaminated inner-city brownfield sites as natural locations for large-scale solar installations. At the national Brownfields conference, each city explained how solar farms can be set up in the unlikeliest places, saving the money involved in cleaning up some of the worst sites.

- In Chicago, Dave Graham, who works on the city’s brownfield program, said the City Solar project just “fell into our laps.” He was called into a meeting in the mayor’s office with representatives from Exelon and SunPower, and found they wanted to create a massive solar farm on a derelict brownfield site. Actually, massive is an understatement for this project: it’s the largest urban solar plant in the U.S. Its 32,000 photo voltaic (PV) panels provide 10 MW of energy, enough for 1,500 local homes. In addition, GPS tracking systems help tilt the panels, ensuring the most efficient use of solar energy.

- Philadelphia won a Solar America Cities grant, which they will use to help create renewable power purchasing agreements. Kristin Sullivan, Philadelphia Mayor’s Office for Sustainability, said a number of city-owned sites are already being prepped for solar. In an example of multi-use infrastructure, Philadelphia Water Department’s treatment facilities will also host panels, generating 250 KW of power. In addition, the city will soon be issuing a request for proposals for a new 3 MW facility. Sullivan said Philadelphia hopes to encourage private sector developers to take the lead on creating solar power plants, even on city-owned lands. This makes more financial sense for the city then owning and operating its own solar power facilities.

- New York City launched SPEED, a searchable database of brownfield properties, a “real estate search engine”, that has gotten great traffic from the local developer community. Dan Walsh, Mayor’s Office of Operations, New York City government, said SPEED includes historical maps so developers can “toggle through time” and explore some 3,150 vacant commercial and industrial brownfield sites spread throughout the city. The idea is to use some of these sites for solar power plants. To make it even easier for developers, the city launched a $9 million brownfield reinvestment fund. Each developer of a brownfield site gets $60-140,000 “fast” if they commit to cleaning-up a brownfield or redeveloping for energy uses. The grants can be used to cover expenses involved in design, investigation, clean-up, or insurance, says Walsh.

.....




http://aslathedirt.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/chicago_citysolar.jpg

[scalziand]

MIT Researchers Use Army of Subjugated Viruses to Build Solar Cells

Jason Mick (Blog) (http://www.dailytech.com/ContactStaff.aspx?id=97) - April 26, 2011 10:35 AM

Read more:
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=21468


All solar cells at a fundamental level rely on some sort of energy harvesting layer. For most cells today this layer is either a thin film or layers of elements deposited on a silicon substrate.

Outside of solar cells, in the realm of nanomedicine and materials engineering, carbon nanotubes are a hot item. These nanoscopic tubes, composed of hexagonal units of bonded carbon, are super strong -- and in some cases -- highly conductive.

Many researchers have considered tossing the tubes in solar cells, but early results were not promising.

Undeterred the MIT team set out to find why. What they determined was that past efforts had failed as they deposited a mix of certain types of tubes that acted as conductors and certain types of tubes that acted as semiconductors. Worse, the tubes clumped together, further impairing the efficiency.

In order to create the desired target -- a conductive nanotube layer -- the MIT team opted for a novel approach, enlisting the help of viral henchmen. Graduate students Xiangnan Dang and Hyunjung Yi, along with Energy Professor Angela Belcher [profile], found that a specific genetically engineered virus -- known as M13 -- improved the tube conductivity by reducing clumping and the number of semiconducting tubes.

Since they were already going the unconventional route, the team decided to test the newly created material layer on a special type of cell, based on titanium dioxide. These TiO2 cells don't use a silicon substrate and are known commercially as "dye-sensitized" solar cells. Their advantages include that they can be less expensive to produce and are lighter than silicon substrate designs.

Adding the nanotube layer improved the efficiency from 8 percent to 10.6 percent -- an increase of about a third. And that huge boost comes despite the fact that the virus/nanotube mix only takes up 0.1 percent of the finished cell's weight. Professor Belcher summarizes, "A little biology goes a long way."

http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/19635_M13_Virus.jpg

http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/19636_Nanotube_Virus.png

http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/19637_Solar_Cell_Dye_Sensitized.jpg

[scalziand]

Record efficiency of 18.7 percent for flexible CIGS solar cells on plastics

May 19, 2011

http://cdn.physorg.com/tmpl/v3/img/logo.gif

Read more:http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-efficiency-percent-flexible-cigs-solar.html

Scientists at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have further boosted the energy conversion efficiency of flexible solar cells made of copper indium gallium (di)selenide (also known as CIGS) to a new world record of 18.7 percent -- a significant improvement over the previous record of 17.6 percent achieved by the same team in June 2010. The measurements have been independently certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg, Germany.

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2011/15109.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Japan 'plans solar panels for all new buildings'


http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-japan-solar-panels.html

The plan, expected to be unveiled at the upcoming G8 Summit in France, aims to show Japan's resolve to encourage technological innovation and promote the wider use of renewable energy, the Nikkei daily said.

Japan has reeled from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and the nuclear crisis they triggered as it battles to stabilise the crippled Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant.

On Thursday, the first day of the two-day summit in Deauville, France, Prime Minister Naoto Kan is expected to announce Japan's intention to continue operating nuclear plants after confirming their safety, the Nikkei said without citing sources.

.....

[SPIREINTHEHOLE!]

Groundbreaking for Blythe Solar Power Project; World's Largest

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/17/MNGS1JVJEU.DTL

Completion of the world's largest solar power plant will be a major milestone in the nation's march toward a renewable energy world and a more stable economy, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Friday during a groundbreaking ceremony.

Government and corporate leaders lifted shovels of dirt to toast the Blythe Solar Power Project in the California desert, 225 miles east of Los Angeles.

The estimated cost of the plant is $4 billion. The U.S. Department of Energy has pledged a $2.1 billion loan guarantee to support it. When finished, the plant will generate enough electricity to power 300,000 homes, Salazar said...

http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/3338/solarmillenium.jpg

[rocketman_95046]

Applied Materials sees critical inflection point reached in the cost of solar energy:banana:
A key point from Applied Materials third annual solar energy survey, undertaking to coincide with the summer solstice (June 21st) in the northern hemisphere is that electricity produced by solar PV panels will cost the same as traditional sources of residential power in 19 countries, including Italy and Spain and Brazil, and California by the end of 2011. Module prices have dropped 70% since 2008, according to the major equipment supplier and are expected to reach US$1 per watt in the next couple of years, echoing recent reports from market research firms such as IHS iSuppli.

"We've reached a critical inflection point in the cost of solar energy,” noted Dr. Charlie Gay, president of the Applied Materials Solar division. “In 2010, 32 megawatts of solar PV were installed worldwide, which is equal to the total amount of solar capacity installed in the history of the technology. This tremendous growth, coupled with new technologies that are making panels more efficient and scalable, has made solar power more affordable than ever before."

Applied Materials is forecasting that by the year 2020, more than 100 countries will have access to solar power at the same cost as current residential power. This would include 98% of the world's population and 99.7% of the world's Gross Domestic Product and 99.2% of energy-related CO2 emissions.

The latest survey found that 32% of Americans polled, believed solar energy was the most efficient renewable energy source that was most easily converted from a raw material into useable energy. However there was a perception disconnect as one-fifth (21%) of Americans believe the U.S. is the solar energy leader. As the report pointed out, Germany, Spain, Japan and Italy use more solar power than the US. Not withstanding that over 50% of PV manufacturing was located in China.

The report said that 51% of Americans believe solar energy makes up more than 5% of total U.S. energy consumption, while the truth is less than one percent.

More incentives, especially in reducing up-front costs would see greater willingness from Americans to adopt solar, even though the survey said more than a quarter (27%) of Americans would consider installing solar panels on their home. The vast majority of consumers (72%) would expect the energy savings from solar panels installed on their homes to equal the cost of installation in 10 years or less.

Leading factors that would make consumers more likely to install solar panels include:

• Government incentives to help offset the installation costs (65%)
• Increase in the home's value (54%)
• Having more information (49%)
• Ability to sell excess power to an energy company (47%)

The survey also noted that younger consumers were more attracted to solar than other age groups. Almost one-third (32%) of those 18 to 44 would consider installing solar, compared to 27% of those 45 to 64 years old. and 15% of Americans age 65 and older (15%).
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/applied_materials_sees_critical_inflection_point_reached_in_the_cost_of_sol

[scalziand]

Double solar world record
July 7, 2011

http://cdn.physorg.com/tmpl/v3/img/logo.gif

(PhysOrg.com) -- A world record double by UNSW solar cell researchers promises to make solar power more affordable, with world-beating new technology delivering substantial efficiency gains at minimal extra cost.

Using a patented laser process, researchers from UNSW’s Photovoltaics Technology Transfer Team, working with solar technology firm Centrotherm, achieved a new world benchmark of 19.3 percent efficiency in May for a mass-produced, crystalline silicon solar cell. They improved that result in June to advance the record to 19.4 per cent.

The previous record for cells created with this process was 18.9 per cent.

The new cells compare favourably with the 18 per cent-efficient cells commonly used in rooftop solar panels.

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/2011/doublesolarw.gif

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-solar-world.html

[scalziand]

New MIT-developed materials make it possible to produce photovoltaic cells on paper or fabric

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lgvc2n35X4U/TYjIZ8Lfc1I/AAAAAAAAKzE/rIvMnTRi7E4/nbf10.jpg

The technique represents a major departure from the systems used until now to create most solar cells, which require exposing the substrates to potentially damaging conditions, either in the form of liquids or high temperatures. The new printing process uses vapors, not liquids, and temperatures less than 120 degrees Celsius. These “gentle” conditions make it possible to use ordinary untreated paper, cloth or plastic as the substrate on which the solar cells can be printed.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WrFoPgd4iPI/Ths80GGXm9I/AAAAAAAAMAU/MAKCE2iQSNs/s320/MItpapersolar.jpg
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/07/new-mit-developed-materials-make-it.html

[scalziand]

Tiny tech, big results: Quantum dot solar cells increase solar conversion efficiency
August 2, 2011 by Stuart Mason Dambrot

http://cdn.physorg.com/tmpl/v3/img/logo.gif

Sometimes called artificial atoms, nanoparticles composed of cadmium, zinc, tellurium, selenium, sulfur and other compounds are so miniscule that adding or removing a single electron represents a significant change – a property that makes them suitable not only as components of advanced solar cells, but also in solid state lighting, medical sensors and other applications.
In particular, colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) – synthesized from a three-component system composed of: precursors, organic surfactants, and solvents – can be tuned by changing their size, which in photovoltaic structures allows their spectral response to be tailored as needed. Recently, researchers in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto have demonstrated the first CQD tandem solar cells (a series of connected solar cell in which adding more devices allows for each device to be optimized to a narrower spectrum giving a higher overall efficiency) using the size-effect tuning of a single CQD material, lead(II) sulfide (PbS). Their ability to tune CQD films may allow tandem and multi-junction solar cells (fabricated by combining CQDs of differing sizes) to raise solar cell conversion limits from its current 31% to 42% 49%, respectively.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-08-tiny-tech-big-results-quantum.html

[scalziand]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lgvc2n35X4U/TYjIZ8Lfc1I/AAAAAAAAKzE/rIvMnTRi7E4/nbf10.jpg


Australian Sliver solar cells will lighten the gear carried by soldiers (http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/08/australian-sliver-solar-cells-will.html)

Sliver® solar cells are fabricated using 1 – 2 mm thick silicon wafers. The key step in Sliver® cell processing is to form deep narrow grooves all the way through the wafer. Several processes can be used including laser scribing, a dicing saw or an anisotropic etching process.

The result is a wafer cut into a series of slivers, with each sliver approximately 50-100mm long, 1-2mm wide and 40-60μm thick.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n5q494V1Db8/TktnKOXAe1I/AAAAAAAAMVo/I4XsjoYdFuA/s320/slivercells2.png

[scalziand]

http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2011/aidan.html

[M II A II R II K]

Germany-Greece in Talks Over Massive Solar Project


Read More: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/08/germany-greece-in-talks-over-massive-solar-project

Greece is looking to the sun for a plan that will help it emerge from its deep economic troubles, and solar giant and EU powerhouse Germany may be the beneficiary.

According to a report Saturday in Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea, a $29 billion project (€20 billion) could create as many as 60,000 positions in jobs-starved Greece by harvesting its abundant sunshine and shipping it to Germany, which has committed itself to moving rapidly away from nuclear power following Japan’s earthquake and nuclear crisis.

According to the newspaper, Greece’s Environment Minister George Papaconstantinou and Germany's Deputy Economy Minister Stefan Kapferer discussed the plan, named Project Helios, during talks in Athens last week.

The International Herald Tribune said the project aims to reach 10 GW of capacity, which would rival it with the 10.2 GW produced by Public Power Corporation, Greece's main electricity company. The project, the site said, would require 200 square kilometers of public land.

Despite a national feed-in-tariff, solar installations have been slow to develop in Greece, as the nation continues to battle debt and uncertainty. However, in January, Greece announced plans to build a 200 MW photovoltaic solar park expected to cost $807 million over spent lignite mines in Kozani, a city in northern Greece located south of the border with the Republic of Macedonia.

.....

[scalziand]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lgvc2n35X4U/TYjIZ8Lfc1I/AAAAAAAAKzE/rIvMnTRi7E4/nbf10.jpg

Natcore Technologies makes progress to 30% efficient quantum dot solar cells
September 07, 2011

A research team working under Natcore Technology Inc. co-founder Prof. Andrew Barron has fabricated two families of multilayer quantum dot films, (http://www.natcoresolar.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=135:natcore-scientists-prove-feasibility-of-all-quantum-dot-tandem-solar-cell&catid=3:news-releases&Itemid=75) one with silicon quantum dots and the other with germanium quantum dots, both of which have demonstrated the ability to produce a photo-generated current. Natcore's scientists have discovered that its LPD (Liquid Phase Deposition) process could allow, for the first (http://www.natcoresolar.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100&Itemid=102&pid=53) time, mass manufacturing of super-efficient (30%+) tandem solar cells. For comparison purposes, these cells could achieve twice the power output of today's most efficient solar cells. Until now, these tandem cells have been producible only by using very special, expensive semiconductor materials, and at very high costs. Natcore's process has the potential to allow tandem cell mass production at a lower cost/watt than anything available today.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uJvHn3s1zkk/Tme4WYZXGAI/AAAAAAAAMf4/0XD1iFOrnH4/s400/natcoresolar.jpg

The photo-generated current measurements are the first of their kind for this sort of structure and showed unequivocally that both film types (i.e., with Si quantum dots or Ge quantum dots) were photoactive in different spectral regions. The larger Ge quantum dots were responsive to an infrared-rich light source and the Si quantum dots were responsive to a UV-rich light source, consistent with expectations. Smaller quantum dots (the Si quantum dot diameters were between 1 nm and 2 nm) will respond more readily to shorter wavelengths of light, while larger quantum dots (the Ge quantum dot diameters were between 5 nm and 6 nm) will respond more readily to longer light wavelengths, precisely as observed.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gTCGfP4tlSg/Tme34Xd2OsI/AAAAAAAAMf0/LrZw5NWbGBs/s400/lpd-tub.png


"This accomplishment by Professor Barron and his group is an outstanding achievement and confirms that making, and ultimately commercially producing, an all-quantum dot tandem solar cell using Natcore's LPD film growth technology is on target," said Dr. Dennis Flood, Natcore's Chief Technology Officer. "Our goal to show that multiple layers of quantum dots can be assembled using a low-cost, complete wet chemistry approach has been validated. The fact that we have demonstrated photocurrent generation in both Si and Ge quantum dot multilayer devices means that the entire solar cell could potentially be fabricated without the use of expensive silicon wafers for the bottom subcell of a two- or three-cell tandem device. We could do so by substituting a Ge quantum dot device for the silicon solar cell and achieve the same overall solar absorption as would have been achieved with the latter. This achievement could make it possible to use low-cost, roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques to achieve a truly low-cost solar module that would have twice the power output of the average solar module on the market today. "

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/09/natcore-technologies-makes-progress-to.html

[scalziand]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lgvc2n35X4U/TYjIZ8Lfc1I/AAAAAAAAKzE/rIvMnTRi7E4/nbf10.jpg
Printed solar cells on paper
September 15, 2011

The Institute for Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology presents solar panels, (http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/tu/presse/aktuell/2/3873) which are printed with special inks with electrical properties on standard paper.

The technology known as 3PV (3PV stands for printed paper photovoltaics) uses conventional printing methods and standard substrates, like those used for magazines, posters or packaging. Special inks with electrical properties form the necessary structures on paper, which ensure that electricity is generated when being exposed to light. Since the employed conventional printing methods, i.e. gravure, flexo and offset printing, are very cost-efficient, the printed solar panels shall generate much cheaper electricity in comparison to conventional solar cells. Prof. Dr. Arved Hübler from the Institute for Print and Media Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology, who is working together with his research team on the 3PV technology for more than three years now, speaks of a paradigm shift in solar technology. His vision for the future is that common printing houses around the world could produce and market 3PV solar panels.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PQpwv3yuu4Y/TnLSu5WzQ4I/AAAAAAAAMkU/qmOrjT9i9Wc/s1600/paperpv.jpg

Journal Small - Printed Paper Photovoltaic Cells (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aenm.201100394/abstract)

Polymer/fullerene solar cells are printed on paper using a combination of gravure and flexographic printing techniques. The printed paper photovoltaic cells are free from expensive electrodes made with indium–tin oxide, silver, or gold. Oxidized zinc film is used as the electron-collecting layer.


Now the Chemnitz-based researchers have published their results in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. Hübler and his team Tino Zillger, Bystrik Trnovec Mozzam Ali and Nora Wetzold, who have been supported by colleagues from the University of Würzburg with regard to the characterisation of the cells, report that the cells printed in Chemnitz achieve an energy conversion efficiency of 1.3 percent. The researchers use a new material approach. In a special printing process, naturally oxidised zinc is applied as base electrode. The transparent counter electrode is printed with PEDOT, a conductive polymer. "The materials are constantly optimised and we are confident that the 3PV parameters can be further improved," says Tino Zillger, researcher at the Institute for Print and Media Technology and leader of the project. Even the team of Hübler is a bit surprised that it is already possible to produce very stable 3PV modules with a web printing press in the laboratory of the Institute for Print and Media Technology. "Our long experience in the field of printed electronics pays well here," says the head of the chair Print Media Technology.

Hübler assumes that all in all paper solar cells could have the edge over the current technological state of the art due to the efficient production and lower material costs. The aim of further research is to increase the efficiency to more than five percent in order to ensure that a 3PV module is economically attractive despite a life time of less than one year. "In nature we find a model for this strategy: even green leaves only have a moderate energy conversion efficiency of four to seven percent and a life time of less than one year. Nevertheless, this approach is obviously successful," explains Hübler.

The vision of being able to contribute to the overall energy supply with the help of paper solar panels is only one field of application. Researchers at Chemnitz University of Technology have already shown that it is also possible to drive small electrical devices with these paper solar cells. This opens up the possibility to supply mobile devices with "paper power” in a simple and self-sustaining way. Intelligent packaging, for instance, could include many additional features, ranging from displays to sensors. Handling of the paper solar cells can be very simple. Tino Zillger shows a possible solution with 3PV modules manufactured at the Institute for Print and Media Technology: The paper strips can be connected with the help of commercial snap fasteners. Immediately, an electrical current flows. After use, the paper modules can be recycled like any other waste paper. According to Hübler it is, thus, not only possible to generate renewable energy, but also the solar cell itself is made from renewable resources and is consequently renewable.

[scalziand]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lgvc2n35X4U/TYjIZ8Lfc1I/AAAAAAAAKzE/rIvMnTRi7E4/nbf10.jpg

Artificial leaf solar cell splits water into hydrogen and oxygen (http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/09/artificial-leaf-solar-cell-splits-water.html)


The artificial leaf — a silicon solar cell with different catalytic materials (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/artificial-leaf-0930.html) bonded onto its two sides — needs no external wires or control circuits to operate. Simply placed in a container of water and exposed to sunlight, it quickly begins to generate streams of bubbles: oxygen bubbles from one side and hydrogen bubbles from the other. If placed in a container that has a barrier to separate the two sides, the two streams of bubbles can be collected and stored, and used later to deliver power: for example, by feeding them into a fuel cell that combines them once again into water while delivering an electric current.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7rNN6L-3d14/ToZGNnfM4xI/AAAAAAAAMqk/RXdMHMAMG-w/s320/solarleaf.jpg
The 'artificial leaf,' a device that can harness sunlight to split water into hydrogen and oxygen without needing any external connections, is seen with some real leaves, which also convert the energy of sunlight directly into storable chemical form. Photo: Dominick Reuter

Journal Science - Wireless Solar Water Splitting Using Silicon-Based Semiconductors and Earth-Abundant Catalysts (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/09/28/science.1209816.abstract)




We describe the development of solar water-splitting cells comprising earth-abundant elements that operate in near-neutral pH conditions, both with and without connecting wires. The cells consist of a triple junction, amorphous silicon photovoltaic interfaced to hydrogen and oxygen evolving catalysts made from an alloy of earth-abundant metals and a cobalt|borate catalyst, respectively. The devices described herein carry out the solar-driven water-splitting reaction at efficiencies of 4.7% for a wired configuration and 2.5% for a wireless configuration when illuminated with 1 sun of AM 1.5 simulated sunlight. Fuel-forming catalysts interfaced with light-harvesting semiconductors afford a pathway to direct solar-to-fuels conversion that captures many of the basic functional elements of a leaf.


The device, Nocera explains, is made entirely of earth-abundant, inexpensive materials — mostly silicon, cobalt and nickel — and works in ordinary water. Other attempts to produce devices that could use sunlight to split water have relied on corrosive solutions or on relatively rare and expensive materials such as platinum.

The artificial leaf is a thin sheet of semiconducting silicon — the material most solar cells are made of — which turns the energy of sunlight into a flow of wireless electricity within the sheet. Bound onto the silicon is a layer of a cobalt-based catalyst, which releases oxygen, a material whose potential for generating fuel from sunlight was discovered by Nocera and his co-authors in 2008. The other side of the silicon sheet is coated with a layer of a nickel-molybdenum-zinc alloy, which releases hydrogen from the water molecules.


11 pages of supplemental material (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2011/09/28/science.1209816.DC1/Reece.SOM.pdf)

LEEhxk-CiOQ

[scalziand]

Breakthrough Furnace Can Cut Solar Costs
October 21, 2011
http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/images/20111021_pix19755_large.jpg
The cavity inside the Solar Optical Furnace glows white hot during a simulated firing of a solar cell.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder

Solar cells, the heart of the photovoltaic industry, must be tested for mechanical strength, oxidized, annealed, purified, diffused, etched, and layered.

Heat is an indispensable ingredient in each of those steps, and that's why large furnaces dot the assembly lines of all the solar cell manufacturers. The state of the art has been thermal or rapid-thermal-processing furnaces that use radiant or infrared heat to quickly boost the temperature of silicon wafers.

Now, there's something new.

A game-changing Optical Cavity Furnace developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory uses optics to heat and purify solar cells at unmatched precision while sharply boosting the cells' efficiency.

The Optical Cavity Furnace (OCF) combines the assets that photonics can bring to the process with tightly controlled engineering to maximize efficiency while minimizing heating and cooling costs.

NREL's OCF encloses an array of lamps within a highly reflective chamber to achieve a level of temperature uniformity that is unprecedented. It virtually eliminates energy loss by lining the cavity walls with super-insulating and highly reflective ceramics, and by using a complex optimal geometric design. The cavity design uses about half the energy of a conventional thermal furnace because in the OCF the wafer itself absorbs what would otherwise be energy loss. Like a microwave oven, the OCF dissipates energy only on the target, not on the container.

http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/feature_detail.cfm/feature_id=1629

[M II A II R II K]

A Super-Absorbent Solar Material


Read More: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/39106/

A new nanostructured material that absorbs a broad spectrum of light from any angle could lead to the most efficient thin-film solar cells ever. Researchers are applying the design to semiconductor materials to make solar cells that they hope will save money on materials costs while still offering high power-conversion efficiency. Initial tests with silicon suggest that this kind of patterning can lead to a fivefold enhancement in absorbance.

Conventional solar cells are typically a hundred micrometers or more thick. Researchers are working on ways to make thinner solar cells, on the order of hundreds of nanometers thick rather than micrometers, with the same performance, to lower manufacturing costs. However, a thinner solar cell normally absorbs less light, meaning it cannot generate as much electricity.

Some researchers are turning to exotic optical effects that emerge at the nanoscale to solve this conundrum. Harry Atwater, a professor of applied physics and materials science at Caltech and a pioneer of the field, has now come up with a way of patterning materials at the nanoscale that turns them into solar super-absorbers.

.....




This scanning electron microscope image shows the super absorbent nanostructures, which measure 400 nanometers at their base.

http://www.technologyreview.com/files/76421/plasmonic_x220.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

Plasmonic device converts light into electricity


Read More: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-plasmonic-device-electricity.html

While the most common device for converting light into electricity may be photovoltaic (PV) solar cells, a variety of other devices can perform the same light-to-electricity conversion, such as solar-thermal collectors and rectennas. In a new study, engineers have designed a new device that can convert light of infrared (IR) and visible wavelengths into direct current by using surface plasmon excitations in a simple metal-insulator-metal (MIM) device.

“The greatest significance thus far is to show an alternative method to rectennas and PV devices for IR and visible light conversion,” Melosh told PhysOrg.com. “The conversion efficiencies aren't amazingly high compared to a PV in visible, so it’s not going to replace PVs, but it could be used for energy scavenging later on.” The new device’s MIM architecture is similar to that of a rectenna. However, whereas rectennas operate with long-wavelength light such as microwaves and radio waves, the new device operates with a broad spectrum of infrared to visible wavelengths.

When the MIM device is illuminated, incoming photons are absorbed by the top and bottom metal electrodes. Upon absorption, each photon excites an electron in the metal into a higher energy state so that it becomes a “hot electron.” About half of the hot electrons travel toward the metal-insulator interface, where they may be collected by the other electrode. However, photon absorption in the upper and lower electrodes generates currents with opposite signs, so a net DC current is achieved only if the absorption is larger at one electrode than the other.

.....




Surface plasmons on the top electrode in the MIM device can increase the current from the top electrode so that it is greater than the current from the bottom electrode, generating a positive net current. Image credit: Wang and Melosh. ©2011 American Chemical Society

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2011/plasmonicenergydevice.jpg




Electron transmission in MIM devices (a) with and (b) without surface plasmon excitations. (c) The measured photocurrent in a device with surface plasmons (black line) is higher than in a device without them (red line). Image credit: Wang and Melosh. ©2011 American Chemical Society

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hires/2011/plasmonicenergydevice2.jpg

[M II A II R II K]

3D Solar Panels from MIT


November 24, 2011

By Zachary Shahan

Read More: http://cleantechnica.com/2011/11/24/3d-solar-panels-from-mit/


.....

Grossman and some students of his at MIT are working on 3D solar structures that can create almost as much electricity on a cloudy day as on a sunny day. Here’s more from ABC’s “This Could Be BIG” (yes, I’m a little jealous that this guy has a camera crew and production team to follow him around and talk to such cleantech researchers, but at least they are doing it!):

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[M II A II R II K]

Solar boom makes California and Hawai'i ponder changing their new rules


Dec 25, 2011

By Meteor Blades

Read More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/25/1048823/-Open-Thread-for-Night-Owls:-Solar-boom-makes-California-and-Hawaii-ponder-changing-their-new-rules

Additional: http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20111221/hawaii-california-rooftop-solar-panels-15-percent-threshold-renewable-energy

Prompted by pressure from clean energy advocates, Hawaii and California are quietly working to remove a regulatory obstacle that is slowing a boom in rooftop solar systems in the nation's leading solar states.

The culprit is an arcane provision in the rules many states have adopted for how utility companies handle "distributed generation," any system of small-scale power installations, usually solar arrays, that generates electricity at homes or businesses and hooks up with the main electric grid. The regulation requires that once distributed energy reaches 15 percent of peak demand on a local circuit, anyone wanting to add more solar must carry out a lengthy and costly review of the project's ability to connect with the grid.

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http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/home_page_slideshow/solarinstallationcalifornia.jpg

[MalcolmTucker]

While they could change the amount to a high fixed percentage of the lowest daytime demand, doing much else could really make things worse rather than better without wholescale redesign of the grid methinks.

[bevansmith]

As if solar panel is small it might be worth looking into using a rig similar. I am seeking good used solar panels around my area that can be purchased at a reasonable price. We are hoping that someone can help us. Both of us are disabled so and are trying to get away from the grid. Can anyone help or give advice? Thanks!!

solar systems california (http://www.getsolar4less.com/)
-------------------------

[Brianjohnson07]

We mainly supply all kinds of solar power, PV module, solar cell, monocrystalline solar panel. The 5 LED lamp will provide many hours of bright light. The lamp comes with a rechargeable battery that can be charged with the included solar panel.

[amor de cosmos]

UT Biosolar Breakthrough Promises Cheap, Easy Green Electricity
Posted on February 2, 2012 9:22 am

KNOXVILLE—Barry D. Bruce, professor of biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is turning the term “power plant” on its head. The biochemist and a team of researchers have developed a system that taps into photosynthetic processes to produce efficient and inexpensive energy.

Bruce collaborated with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ecole Polytechnique Federale in Switzerland to develop a process that improves the efficiency of generating electric power using molecular structures extracted from plants. The biosolar breakthrough has the potential to make “green” electricity dramatically cheaper and easier.



To produce the energy, the scientists harnessed the power of a key component of photosynthesis known as photosystem-I (PSI) from blue-green algae. This complex was then bioengineered to specifically interact with a semi-conductor so that, when illuminated, the process of photosynthesis produced electricity. Because of the engineered properties, the system self-assembles and is much easier to re-create than his earlier work. In fact, the approach is simple enough that it can be replicated in most labs—allowing others around the world to work toward further optimization.

“Because the system is so cheap and simple, my hope is that this system will develop with additional improvements to lead to a green, sustainable energy source,” said Bruce, noting that today’s fossil fuels were once, millions of years ago, energy-rich plant matter whose growth also was supported by the sun via the process of photosynthesis.
http://www.utk.edu/tntoday/2012/02/02/biosolar-breakthrough/

[amor de cosmos]

EeRSQUw4qp4
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/16/view/19067/bio-solar-power-from-grass-clippings.html

[M II A II R II K]

Sacrificing the desert to save the Earth


February 5, 2012

By Julie Cart

Read More: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-solar-desert-20120205,0,762414,full.story

Construction cranes rise like storks 40 stories above the Mojave Desert. In their midst, the "power tower" emerges, wrapped in scaffolding and looking like a multistage rocket. Clustered nearby are hangar-sized assembly buildings, looming berms of sand and a chain mail of fencing that will enclose more than 3,500 acres of public land. Moorings for 173,500 mirrors — each the size of a garage door — are spiked into the desert floor. Before the end of the year, they will become six square miles of gleaming reflectors, sweeping from Interstate 15 to the Clark Mountains along California's eastern border.

BrightSource Energy's Ivanpah solar power project will soon be a humming city with 24-hour lighting, a wastewater processing facility and a gas-fired power plant. To make room, BrightSource has mowed down a swath of desert plants, displaced dozens of animal species and relocated scores of imperiled desert tortoises, a move that some experts say could kill up to a third of them. Despite its behemoth footprint, the Ivanpah project has slipped easily into place, unencumbered by lasting legal opposition or public outcry from California's boisterous environmental community. The public got its chance to comment at scores of open houses, but the real political horse trading took place in meetings involving solar developers, federal regulators and leaders of some of the nation's top environmental organizations.

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http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2012-02/67846947.jpg

[mwadswor]

Sacrificing the desert to save the Earth[/url]

I live in the desert, it's not that exciting, and there's plenty more where it came from. The benefits of this project far outweigh the costs. I'm excited that we're doing it, and we need more like it.

[M II A II R II K]

Wesley Clark: Make Solar Energy A Military Mission


2/14/2012

By Wesley K. Clark

Read More: http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddwoody/2012/02/14/wesley-clark-make-solar-energy-a-military-mission/


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Solar, wind and other clean energy technologies played a central role in the president’s address because of their importance to American economic competitiveness and prosperity – and rightly so, the sector is already providing a welcome spot of job and market growth with the opportunity for much more with further U.S. commitment. But while all eyes are on the economy, let’s not forget that those same clean energy investments are mission critical to another top national priority: to strengthen American energy security.

- In the past, the Defense Department has played a remarkably consistent role in commercializing new technologies that provide tremendous social benefits within the larger civilian realm of society. The Internet, created by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 1969, is perhaps the most famous and transformative of the Department of Defense’s contributions to consumer markets.

- Thanks to support from the Defense Department and the U.S. Department of Energy, solar energy is achieving cost milestones that were unthinkable just a short time ago: a 75% price drop over the last three years. But there is a lot of competition in this market, fueled by major government support in places such as Europe and China. With Europe’s consistent pro-solar policies – long-term above-market payments for solar energy – as well as force-fed Chinese procurement – some U.S. manufacturing firms have been driven out of the business. Solyndra is one, and there are others that have followed.

Consider these facts regarding the U.S. Department of Defense:

· U.S. military operations represent the largest consumer of all forms of energy globally.

· Our troops in Afghanistan pay the equivalent of $400 per gallon of fossil fuel when security, transportation and mortality costs are tallied up, with the largest expense being battlefield electricity generation.

· Here at home, virtually all military bases including Fort Irwin here in the California desert are shifting to solar energy in order to develop a more secure, on-site power supply that will increase resiliency and reduce dependence upon imports of fossil fuels from hostile countries.

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