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POPSU.S. Department of Energy: Six Solar Bets Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Energy gave the nod to six solar companies working on advanced photovoltaic tech. The companies chosen hail from California, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Among them: 1366 Technologies, a company we profiled recently here: http://www.forbes.com/businessinthebeltway/2008/08/19/beltway-solar-vanmierlo-biz-wash-cz_atg_0820beltway.html The dollar amounts here are a long way from staggering, and, as the DOE's press release notes, they are "subject to annual appropriations." At the very least, the win fits 1366's explicit strategy of working with public sector.
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POPSWorld's Greenest Museum It took 10 years to build and cost $500 million, but the California Academy of Sciences finally unveiled its new green home. The single building hosts a planetarium, natural history museum, aquarium and four-story rain forest. Some of the green components include floor to ceiling windows that provide natural lighting; a "living roof" with solar panels and native plants; and insulation made of recycled blue jeans.
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POPSHow Parking Lots Can Beat the Heat & Gain Energy On hot, sunny days when air conditioners threaten to overload the power grid, solar power generation makes a lot of sense. Parking lots in asphalt-rich cities have great solar potential because the panels can be oriented to optimize power production during summer afternoons when electricity is most valuable. Google, for example, has installed solar canopies on its parking lots to satisfy 30 percent of its headquarters' power demand. Because the parking lots for most commercial buildings are bigger than the buildings themselves, economies of scale for large installations can further reduce the cost of the solar panels. We shouldn't wait until the next heat wave to think about getting solar power from our parking lots.
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POPSMoore's Law and the Cost of Solar Energy Interesting. I like to see patterns emerging in technology trends. This one makes sense, but the fact is that there are many different types of solar panels, including solar thermal and solar hot water, that are already competitive.
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POPSCheaper than Coal... Several solar companies have announced that they can produce solar panels that have a cheaper dollars per watt price tag than coal. While these don't seem to have reached the domestic market yet, it's and interesting development.
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POPSThin Film Photovoltaics Thin film photovoltaics are an interesting develpment. Fuelled by a worldwide shortage of silicon (caused by a huge growth in demand for solar energy) thin film solar has risen in popularity. While less efficient (now) than traditional solar panels, thin film is cheaper to produce.
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POPSSolar plant a 'small but important step' The Australian centre gets an incredible amount of sunlight. There's very little that can be done without the first step. Remember computers became a prospect (distant) when they invented the transistor. Every program is a series of small steps. Step left 0 step right 1-(or vice versa) at least until we work out how to go organic (it's not far off). Who knows, with the amount of sunlight Australia gets, in time energy is likely to become an export. We'll just have to look out for real estate agents. "Want to buy a block of land in the desert?- Get it while it's hot."
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POPSNanocharging Solar: quantum-dot solar power A commercial quantum-dot solar cell is many years away, assuming it's even possible. But if it is, it could help put our fossil-fuel days behind us. Nozik calculates that a photovoltaic device based on quantum dots could have a maximum efficiency of 42 percent, far better than silicon's maximum efficiency of 31 percent. The quantum dots themselves would be cheap to manufacture, and they could do their work in combination with materials like conducting polymers that could also be produced inexpensively. A working quantum dot-polymer cell could eventually place solar electricity on a nearly even economic footing with electricity from coal.
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POPSNew thin-film solar panels easy to install These new solar panels look and sound easy to install. No price info here but links are provided for more info, including dealers and possible financial incentives available. With electricity prices going ever higher and solar power technology (and hopefully prices) improving, I hope to be able to go solar soon.
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POPSRenewable solar energy's spreading Setting hundreds of solar panel in a desert would greatly help CO2 emission to be decreased. But, what if they are broken down by others like North Korea? Several resouces should share the total amount of energy needed.
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POPSSunPower announces 22 percent efficient solar panels I wonder how long till they get around 50%, or if that's even possible. Anyway, it's really awesome to see advances like this. The SPR-315 solar panel is based on the company's brand spankin' new Gen 2 solar cells, which have a rated power output of 315 watts and boast 22 percent photovoltaic (PV) efficiency -- that's opposed to the 7% to 17% common in most commercial PV systems.
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