Professor devises new form of solar cell

NF Reporter · 11-27-2006, 08:21 PM

AP - A University of Idaho professor is devising a new form of solar cell she says could lead to a breakthrough that would make solar energy commercially feasible.

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waltky · 11-18-2007, 03:12 AM

Might Our Cars Soon Be Solar-Powered?...

Could the Solar Bug Bring the Sun to the Car Market?
Oct. 17, 2007 - Some Entrepreneurs are Trying to Create an Affordable Renewable-Energy Vehicle

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In the local airport parking lot, Steve Titus clicks shut the lightweight fiberglass door of his fireman-yellow "Solar Bug." It looks like another bug -- a Volkswagen one -- that got sliced in half by a band saw, then pinched front to back by the Jolly Green Giant. Titus straddles the saddle-style seat and revs the Hi-Torque Pancake motor. It whirs away quietly, reaching a top speed of 40 miles per hour in a few seconds. On display at a recent alternative-car expo here, this is Titus's second and latest rendering of a solar-powered car concept. It gets up to a fourth of its 60-mile capacity from 200 watts of roof-mounted solar panels.

Titus is among those entrepreneurs trying to create and market an affordable, renewable-energy vehicle – a step beyond gas-electric hybrids. The ranks of potential buyers for such cars are growing by leaps and bounds, say many car-industry analysts. But don't look for them on normal streets just yet, they add quickly. Limitations of batteries and solar panels -- though lessening -- are still issues, among others. Yet "fringe markets" -- such as commuters within small towns, seniors in retirement villages, and users of industry fleets -- are in a position to drive the first sales boomlet for such cars, analysts say.

Until then, Titus and other inventor-tinkerer types are offering a peek into the future of transportation in America – well before the major car companies. "Garage tinkerers like Titus are the tip of an iceberg of innovation demonstrating the direction of the national, global trend," says Steven Letendre, professor of business, economics, and environment at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt., who lectures widely on the future of electric and hybrid cars and solar energy.

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waltky · 06-03-2008, 01:09 AM

$1b is still just a small fraction of what solar should be...

GE sees solar becoming $1 bln business
Mon Jun 2, 2008 - General Electric Co. expects its nascent solar-energy business to hit the $1 billion annual revenue mark over the next three years or so, with its key challenge to make the green energy source less costly, the head of the unit said on Monday.

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"I'm very optimistic about solar. I think it will be a billion-dollar business for GE sooner rather than later," said John Krenicki, president and chief executive of GE Energy, which has businesses ranging from gas turbines to nuclear power to windmills. Asked about how long it would take the solar arm to hit that mark, Krenicki told the Reuters Global Energy Summit: "In a three-year time horizon, which is kind of our planning period right now."

The unit, which sells photovoltaic cells that can be used to convert the sun's rays into electricity, currently has over $100 million in revenues. Rocketing energy prices -- U.S. oil futures CLc1 last month topped $130 a barrel for the first time -- and concern about climate change have spurred global interest in alternative sources of energy, including solar and wind. Still, a big hurdle for many green energy sources is the high cost.

That is the biggest concern GE's solar business is facing, Krenicki said. "If you think about the solar that's on the market today, it's six, seven times more expensive than wind," Krenicki said. "Solar requires material science breakthroughs, which is something that GE is good at."

More GE sees solar becoming $1 bln business | Special Coverage | Reuters

waltky · 07-10-2008, 05:46 PM

Solar window panes in the near future?...

MIT develops window coating that collects energy
10 July `08 WASHINGTON — Perhaps Johnny Nash should be singing, "I can see energy now."

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Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a system that turns windows into a solar collector, letting people see clearly while collecting energy. A coating on the glass channels photons of light to a solar collector around the edge of the window, MIT electrical engineer Marc Baldo and colleagues report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

"We think this is a practical technology for reducing the cost of solar power," Baldo said in a statement. The glass coatings absorb incoming light and then re-emit the energy into the glass, which conducts it to solar cells. The coatings can vary from bright colors to chemicals that are mostly transparent.

The materials are not expensive and can be added to existing solar panels, the researchers said, adding that they believe the technology could find its way to the marketplace within three years.

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waltky · 08-01-2008, 04:25 AM

Using solar energy at night...

MIT develops way to bank solar energy at home
Thu Jul 31, 2008 - A U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night.

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A new catalyst produces the oxygen and hydrogen that fuel cells use to generate electricity, while using far less energy than current methods. With this catalyst, users could rely on electricity produced by photovoltaic solar cells to power the process that produces the fuel, said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who developed the new material.

"If you can only have energy when the sun is shining, you're in deep trouble. And that's why, in my opinion, photovoltaics haven't penetrated the market," Daniel Nocera, an MIT professor of energy, said in an interview at his Cambridge, Massachusetts, office. "If I could provide a storage mechanism, then I make energy 24/7 and then we can start talking about solar." Solar has been growing as a power source in the United States -- last year the nation's solar capacity rose 45 percent to 750 megawatts. But it is still a tiny power source, producing enough energy to meet the needs of about 600,000 typical homes, and only while the sun is shining, according to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Most U.S. homes with solar panels feed electricity into the power grid during the day, but have to draw back from the grid at night. Nocera said his development would allow homeowners to bank solar energy as hydrogen and oxygen, which a fuel cell could use to produce electricity when the sun was not shining. "I can turn sunlight into a chemical fuel, now I can use photovoltaics at night," said Nocera, who explained the discovery in a paper written with Matthew Kanan published on Thursday in the journal Science.

More MIT develops way to bank solar energy at home | Reuters

Eagle One · 08-01-2008, 07:41 PM

I can see why this would be a lot more cost-efficient, but how is the light directed to the edges?

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Researchers develop efficient solar power devices | Environment | Reuters

WASHINGTON - Using sheets of glass covered with organic dyes, scientists have devised an efficient and practical solar power device that they believe can help make this clean, renewable energy source more affordable.

Experts eager for energy sources that do not involve the burning of fossil fuels often point to the promise of solar energy -- harnessing sunlight to make electricity. But solar power so far has proven costlier than standard energy sources.

Writing on Thursday in the journal Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers describe the development of a new type of "solar concentrator" that may provide a better way to extract energy from the sun.

They used glass sheets coated in organic dyes to concentrate light hitting the panes. The dyes absorbed the light, then emitted it into the glass, which carried the light to the edges of the pane much as fiber-optic cables transport light over distances, the researchers said.

At the edges of the glass are located small solar cells that then transform the light into electricity.

"It consists of just a piece of glass with a layer of paint on top of it," MIT electrical engineering professor Marc Baldo, who led the research, said in a telephone interview.

waltky · 10-04-2008, 11:30 PM

Solar earmark in financial bailout...

Congress sets stage for solar boom
October 3, 2008, After months of failed attempts in Congress to extend crucial renewable energy tax credits, the end-game came with lightning speed Friday afternoon: The House of Representatives passed the green incentives attached to the financial bailout package approved by the Senate Wednesday night and President Bush promptly signed the legislation into law.

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There were goodies for wind, geothermal and alternative fuels, but the big winner by far was the solar industry. “It feels like we should be popping the champagne,” said a Silicon Valley solar exec Green Wombat met for lunch minutes after Bush put pen to paper. That it took the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression to save billions of dollars of renewable projects in the pipeline for the sake of political expediency does not bode well for a national alternative energy policy. But the bottom line is that the legislation passed Friday sets the stage for a potential solar boom.

* The 30% solar investment tax credit has been extended to 2016, giving solar startups, utilities and financiers the certainty they need for the years’ long slog it takes to get large-scale power plants and other projects online. The extension is particularly important to those Big Solar projects that need to arrange project financing in the next year or so.

* The $2,000 tax credit limit for residential solar systems has been lifted, meaning that homeowners can get a 30% tax credit on the solar panels they install after Dec. 31. That will save a bundle - especially for those who live in states with generous state rebates - and goose demand for solar panel makers and installers like SunPower (SPWRA) and First Solar (FSLR). (If you buy a $24,000 3-kilowatt solar array in California - big enough to power the average home - you can claim a $7,200 federal tax credit. Add in the state solar rebate and the cost of the system is cut in half.)

* Utilities like PG&E (PCG), Southern California Edison (EIX) and FPL (FPL) can now themselves claim the 30% investment tax credit for large-scale solar power projects. That should encourage those well-capitalized utilities to build their own solar power plants rather than just sign power purchase agreements with startups like Ausra and BrightSource Energy.

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China’s solar giant makes U.S. move
October 2, 2008, In another sign that the financial crisis is not slowing the solar industry, Suntech, the giant Chinese solar module maker, made a big move into the United States market on Thursday.

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The company announced a joint venure with green energy financier MMA Renewable Ventures to build solar power plants and said it would acquire California-based solar installer EI Solutions. Founded in 2001, Suntech (STP) recently overtook its Japanese and German rivals to become the world’s largest solar cell producer. The company has focused on the lucrative European market and only opened a U.S. outpost, in San Francisco, last year. The joint venture with MMA Renewable Ventures (MMA) - called Gemini Solar - will build photovoltaic power plants bigger than 10 megawatts.

Most solar panels are produced for commercial and residential rooftops, but in recent months utilities have been signing deals for massive megawatt photovoltaic power plants. Silicon Valley’s SunPower (SPWRA) is building a 250-megawatt PV power station for PG&E (PCG) while Bay Area startup OptiSolar inked a contract with the San Francisco-based utility for a 550-megawatt thin-film solar power plant. First Solar (FSLR), a Tempe, Ariz.-based thin-film company, has contracts with Southern California Edision (EIX) and Sempre to build smaller-scale solar power plants. Suntech’s purchase of EI Solutions gives it entree into the growing market for commercial rooftop solar systems. EI has installed large solar arrays for Google, Disney, Sony and other corporations.

“Suntech views the long-term prospects for the U.S. solar market as excellent and growing,” said Suntech CEO Zhengrong Shi in a statement. Other overseas investors seem to share that sentiment, credit crunch or not. On Wednesday, Canadian, Australian and British investors lead a $60.6 million round of funding for Silicon Valley solar power plant builder Ausra. “So far the equity market for renewable energy has not been affected by the financial crisis,” Ausra CEO Bob Fishman told Green Wombat. The solar industry got more good news Wednesday night when the U.S. Senate passed a bailout bill that included extensions of crucial renewable energy investment and production tax credits that were set to expire at the end of the year.

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