[TheAntiDoomer]

Rutgers scientists find new material for inexpensive solar cells

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/104708234.html

A paper in Nature Genetics reports that scientists at Rutgers University have discovered new properties that may lead to better, less expensive plastic solar cells.

The scientists found that energy-carrying particles that have been generated by packets of light can travel a thousand times farther in carbon-based semiconductors that had been thought previously. The difference could mean that new solar cells designed using this technology could one day replace silicon solar cells because of lower cost and better performance.

Batteries That Go Ten Times Longer

http://www.fastcompany.com/1694206/cont ... technology

As a result, Contour's batteries can produce high power outputs in short bursts as well as low power outputs over longer periods of time. The batteries can deliver 10 times more energy than traditional li-ion batteries, and they don't degrade over time--after 1,000 charge cycles, Contour found no discernible change in performance

[Xenophobe]

Apparently now you can even drink battery fluids in the ones they are developing to be completely recyclable.

Hows that for technopia? Use a battery, when you are done drink the battery fluid as refreshment, and recycle them, then start all over again! How many gazillions of years can the world run on those!

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/11/the- ... eries.html

And then of course this thing is actually out and running around on roads nowadays. Do we have anyone around here on record who said it would never make it because of the dieoff, GM's bankruptcy, all the other stuff like peak oil which was supposed to stop it from happening?

Cars I can battery around town on....another case of solving peak oil, one automobile at a time! Can you imagine what would have happened 5 years ago if someone had suggested that peak oil would be cured....by more cars?

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/electric-road-trip

[Serial_Worrier]

You know, within a 100 years AI androids will become so advanced that it won't matter any more if H. Sapiens survives or not. Our values and civilization will continue on with them.

[TheAntiDoomer]

Spray-On Solar Window Unveiled

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea ... w-unveiled

The technology, which is called the SolarWindow, aims to provide solar energy to building facades by spraying an electricity-generating coating on to glass. During the demonstration, the researchers compared the cost of the SolarWindow technology to traditional rooftop solar systems saying that the SolarWindow technology provides up to three times more savings in electricity costs.

[diemos]

the SolarWindow technology provides up to three times more savings in electricity costs.

The "savings" is reduced cooling costs because you're not letting in as much sunlight, not electricity generated. Install mirrors instead of windows or SolarWindows and you'll get even more "savings".

You gotta learn how to read press releases.

[Xenophobe]

Follow Volts as they power around the country amazing regular people with their...normalness.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... ust-normal

[Daniel_Plainview]

The battery technology won't be found in the upcoming generation of EV's, however. Carbon nanotubes aren't yet produced in large enough quantities for mass production of nanotube-containing li-ion batteries. But that may change once Contour is ready to commercialize its battery -- and once enough of us start needing a charge every 100 miles.

Let's revisit this in 15 years to assess whether "Contour is ready to commercialize its battery" in any economically viable sense ... and, while we're at it, in 15 yrs let's also assess how Eestor is doing with its ultra-secretive battery/capacitor (which had a drop-dead, final, end-of-story, absolute deadline of December, 2009).

[Xenophobe]

Lets revisit peak oil in the same time frame and see if 20 years post peak is any different than 5 years post peak?

Heck, lets review everything in 15 years...I'm still cheesed over that techno-corny idea of flying cars and irritated I can't afford one of the prototypes.

[ian807]

Here's my list of wowee zowee discoveries:

1) Cheap effective anti-obesity drug with no side effects.
2) Fusion power (A perennial favorite!).
3) Solar cells made of X which may someday lead to cheap ubiquitous solar power.
4) New carbon nanotube [Fill in the blank].
5) Miracle stem cell cure for [Fill in the blank]osis.
6) New oil discovery made in [Fill in the blank]. Could be as much as a billion barrels! (No mention of the fact that the world uses 30 billion barrels a year).

All of this has been on the web as long as news has been on the web. Before that, it was in newspapers in more or less the same format and frequency.

Look, publications need filler. This crap is what they use. Annoying little details like, "it may pan out to be too expensive, poisonous, ecologically disastrous or trivial" doesn't sell advertising. Find the original research paper. Wade through it. Today, you may even have the advantage of blogging with the scientists involved. The devil is lying down there in the details and he's going nowhere.

[Keith_McClary]

Only $4.92 with Free Shipping from China.

[TheAntiDoomer]

Ugly overhead wires, your days are numbered
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20018881-54.html

Direct-current superconductor cables only lose 3 percent of the electricity they transmit, as opposed to the 10 percent that is lost over conventional overhead transmission cables, according to the Department of Energy's most recent study on the topic (PDF). Because of this greater efficiency, electricity can be transported over greater distances which allows more flexibility.

[TheAntiDoomer]

Shooting for the Sun
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... e-sun/8268

Commercial photovoltaic solar cells convert approximately 20 percent of received solar energy into electricity. The best solar-energy systems today—thermal-power plants that concentrate the sun’s heat to drive turbines—operate at a rate of about 30 percent efficiency. The JTEC, Johnson claims, could double that figure, cutting the cost of producing solar power in half from its current average of 25 cents per kilowatt-hour, and making it competitive with coal.

[TheAntiDoomer]

Silicon strategy shows promise for batteries
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-sil ... eries.html

With Mahduri Thakur, a post-doctoral researcher in Rice's Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, and Mark Isaacson of Lockheed Martin, Biswal, Wong and Sinsabaugh found that putting micron-sized pores into the surface of a silicon wafer gives the material sufficient room to expand. While common lithium-ion batteries hold about 300 milliamp hours per gram of carbon-based anode material, they determined the treated silicon could theoretically store more than 10 times that amount.

[ian807]

The JTEC, Johnson {claims], [could] double that figure, cutting the cost of producing solar power in half from its current average of 25 cents per kilowatt-hour, and making it competitive with coal.

Couda, shouda, woulda.

Wake me when this thing does something. Good.

My feelings exactly. When I can buy it on ebay, or order it from somewhere at a reasonable cost, I'll care. Until then, it's just another big yawn.

[Keith_McClary]

The Rise And Fall Of America's Jet-Powered Car

How different would America be now if we all drove turbine-powered cars? It could have happened. But government interference, shortsighted regulators, and indifferent corporate leaders each played a role in the demise of a program that could have lessened U.S. dependence on Middle East oil.

[Xenophobe]

It is interesting that Techno-Cornopia appears to be defined as flying cars, free electricity, stuff which obviously hasn't happened.

What happens if Techno-Cornopia ends up being BAU? Forever?

While everyone is waiting for peak oil to stop NASCAR from racing, or NFL fans from tailgating, or commuters from commuting, what we keep getting is just more of the same. I'm watching football today and the stadiums are still full. Natural gas is plentiful and cheap some 5 years after the North American Gas CLIFF was pronounced by Hirsch, gasoline is available up and down and all around and isn't even as expensive as it used to be and certainly no worse than it was decades ago.

Predictions of peak, of the US, or the world, have been around for some 90 years now...what happens if techno-cornopia is just....this....?

[TheAntiDoomer]

Oregon's 845 megawatt wind farm receives U.S. government support
http://www.gizmag.com/oregon-largest-wi ... ESWiki.com

To put the size of this project in perspective, the Three Mile Island nuclear power station generates around 800 megawatts and coal fired power stations generally produce around 1000 megawatts, but can be as large as 5000 megawatts. Renewable energy stations are generally on a smaller scale, but several projects underway around the globe highlight coming changes – a 500 megawatt offshore wind farm is planned for the U.K, a 420 megawatt project is being developed in Australia and the Alta Wind Energy Center in California eventually aims to generate 3,000 megawatts. On the solar side of the equation, a 280 megawatt facility is planned for Arizona, a 100 megawatt project is in development in the UAE and a whopping 2-gigawatt solar power plant is slated for development in Inner Mongolia