Sep
1
Atmospheric Electricity Production
September 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Fernando Galembeck, Ph.D. says his research may help explain a 200-year-old scientific riddle about how electricity is produced and discharged in the atmosphere. “Just as solar energy could free some households from paying electric bills, this promising new energy source could have a similar effect.” Should Galembeck get it right, devices that capture electricity from [...]
Aug
9
More Than Doubling the Power From a Solar Cell
August 9, 2010 | 1 Comment
Stanford’s Nick Melosh, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, seems to have cracked the problem of getting the heat of sunlight with the photons working to produce electricity in a solar cell. That would not be just a photovoltaic; it would be infraredvoltaic plus photovoltaic. The efficiency gets past 55% and near 60% in [...]
Aug
4
Impossible But Done
August 4, 2010 | 3 Comments
This writer thinks with others that the “laws” of science and other notions have useful purposes when they work to our advantage. But the laws need challenged now and one must suppose forever. So when the impossible, flaunts the law, or whatever gets crashed, there’s cause for some celebration – not for the breaking, but [...]
Jul
9
A Cheaper Photovoltaic Solar Cell
July 9, 2010 | 2 Comments
If one lives where the wind blows, the hail falls and the home insurance underwriter is up to speed – the savings a residential photovoltaic solar cell system offers is consumed by the risk insurance premium. Spending say $20K to save $2K annually with risk insurance at $6K per year is a nonstarter. Weather risk [...]
Jun
21
They Say The Wind Can Provide Reliable Power
June 21, 2010 | 1 Comment
The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) asserts in a study released last month that the power grid for five western states – Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming – the WestConnect territory – could operate on as much as 30 percent wind and 5 percent solar without the construction of extensive [...]
Jun
9
A New Kind Of Photovoltaic Solar Cell
June 9, 2010 | 5 Comments
Scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have developed a new solar cell that they hope will cost a tiny fraction of current production. The new cells consist of tiny silicon wires that measure a mere 1-micron in diameter. These wires are embedded lengthwise and perpendicular into plastic plates where they convert light into [...]
Jun
3
Breaking Through The Solar Panel Cost Problem
June 3, 2010 | 13 Comments
Photovoltaic panels are still way too expensive for mass adoption. One major reason is the wiring connecting the individual cells. That plus the glass and the manufactured silicon cell materials pose expenses that limit the purchase economics to major subsidies and areas where weather risk is low or nonexistent. Benjamin Wiley, an assistant professor of [...]
May
10
Another Way to Harvest Sunlight Has Been Found
May 10, 2010 | 1 Comment
Dr. Jarone Pinhassi, a scientist in marine microbiology at Linnaeus University, Sweden said, “It was long thought that phytoplankton were the only organisms in the sea that could harvest the energy from sunlight for growth.” An exciting new finding by scientists in Sweden and Spain that teamed up has been published in the online, open [...]
