Posted on 04/15/2006 9:01:38 AM PDT by neverdem
SAN JOSE, Calif. — T. J. Rodgers is surrounded by a sea of silicon wafers on the roof of his company's headquarters in a Silicon Valley industrial park.
No, not the ones that Mr. Rodgers, who founded Cypress Semiconductor in 1982, used to make high-speed computer memories or the newer specialized chips that go into iPods and high-end Mercedes-Benzes. These wafers are soaking up the sun's rays and turning them into electricity.
On the roof, he fusses over the occasional weed that has grown up in the cracks between the panels and speculates about using robots to keep the glass surfaces of the panels clean. But it is nothing like the problems of manufacturing computer chips in superclean rooms.
"You don't have to do too much of anything," he said. "You just wash them down. All you want to do is get the stuff off."
Mr. Rodgers has plenty of motivation to keep an eye on his roof. The growth of his company may soon depend on SunPower, a small subsidiary that employs the six-inch-square silicon wafers to make a more efficient solar cell.
The contrast between the two uses of silicon could not be more pronounced. As it turns out, the fledgling solar-cell industry uses just about as many silicon wafers as the chip industry does, but the resemblance ends there.
Today, solar cells are a tiny niche in the energy business — rapidly expanding to be sure, but without the potential for exponential gains in performance and falling costs that are hallmarks of the computer world.
Indeed, the solar-cell industry is reliant upon government subsidies, to the consternation of Mr. Rodgers, an outspoken libertarian.
"The culture that got built is what I call a grant culture," he said. "They're all pitching to the U.S. government, looking for funding."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Heh! In a few months we'll hear of a story about burglars stealing these expensive things off of his rooftop.
It IS California, ya know...
You know, I'm impressed. You don't usually read articles like this and encounter statements like the one above that refer to the kind of weed that you don't smoke.
I would love to have an earthship home and live off the grid.
Nice jacket. The problem with current solar cells is they take more energy to manufacture than they will ever produce. Thus, they are good for locations where no other power source is available, such as satellites.
A 12.6-kilowatt solar panel installation atop a home in Santa Barbara, Calif
12,600 Watts? I don't think so. From the companies Web Site
SunPower, Solar Panels or go to
Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Products and click on Solar Cells.
Their largest panel is 220 Watts. There are 24 panels in that picture, or 5,280 Watts max. Never trust MSM.
Continued good luck TJ.
One of the hallmarks of our great civilization is the network of highly complex systems designed, built, operated and maintained by professionals. If I want heat in my home, I turn the thermostat and the natural gas system delivers gas to my furnace. I flush the toilet, and some great unseen system gulps the contents, processes it and dumps clean water back to the bay. I open my faucet and out comes clean, safe water. My car runs low on gas, I stick in a nozzle and fill my tank. I want light, I flip a switch and there it is. Once a week I take my trash to the curb and it disappears to who-knows-where. I don't have to worry about any of these things -- the great professional engineers behind the scenes keep all of this running smoothly for me for very little money.
No why in the world would I want to take one of these systems, electric power, and move the power plant into my home? I would have to hire engineers to design the system, contractors to install it, maintenance professionals to keep it running and fix it when it breaks, somebody has to keep the backup system running for the days the sun doesn't shine, and I've probably got a bank of dangerous batteries in my home for some backup.
Remind me again why I want to move backward from sophisticated, highly-reliable, and economical networks to a Do-It-Yourself approach to power?
thackney wrote: "Their largest panel is 220 Watts. There are 24 panels in that picture, or 5,280 Watts max. Never trust MSM."
Good point. I've looked into solar several times. It's hideously expensive compared to conventional energy sources. I wouldn't mind a solar back up in case of an emergency, but it can't come close to competing with the grid. I'd literally have to cover my yard and roof with solar panels if I wanted to maintain my household's existing power consumption.
I happen to live on a hill that has lots of wind. I'm wondering if a combination of panels and wind would save me money.
LOL good catch.
Let the NYT know.
Solar cells have cost $5 a watt for many years. Is that still the going price?
There appears to be another bank of panels over on the other side of the chimney, and who knows what may be on the parts of the roof we can't see.
Wayne wrote: "I happen to live on a hill that has lots of wind. I'm wondering if a combination of panels and wind would save me money."
Wrong question. What you should be asking is what would you do if the grid went down for an extended period. I doubt you could make a case for solar or wind based purely on economics. However, it might be a good idea to have a way to keep the water flowing (if you have a well) and the lights on in an emergency.
I just redid (for about the 5th time) the analysis of cost savings from switching from our standard 17" CRT monitors to 17" LCD monitors. The payback on that, even at artificially inflated electricity costs to cover an order of magnitude price increase, is 66.2 years.
That argument is put to bed, for at least 6 months. Then someone will have yet another brainstorm and write yet another flame mail memo about why we should switch so that they can have that cool looking monitor.
I did work out an economic justification, but I refuse to share it with upper management. If we use LCDs instead of CRTs we can actually reduce the size of each cube by nearly a foot. For our entire data center that would allow us to squeeze in enough new cubes to eliminate one of the other small buildings we lease here in town. That, and similar changes/consolidations at other facilities, would pay for converting the entire company within 3 years. But then my cube (and everyone elses) would be even smaller than they are now.
Nope. Won't mention it. Wouldn't be prodent.
So instead of incompetent, the journalist is just misleading?
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