Free Republic

You think solar electrical generation is going to save you or the Planet? Think again. While it is true that photovoltaic solar panels do not pollute while they are producing electricity -- what about the manufacturing process? What happens when these panels reach the end of their projected lifecycle in twenty-five years? (This is, by the way, an optimistic view of their useful life.) Those questions are addressed in a study by the watchdog group Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. "Green Power" is being hyped as the "Safe Solution." It is anything but safe -- when all factors are considered. Here...

MIT team increases efficiency of solar panels Boston Globe, United States - 42 minutes ago said Jonathan Mapel, an author of the study and MIT graduate student who has co-founded a startup called Covalent Solar to turn the idea into a product. ... See-Through Solar Hack Could Double Panel Efficiency Wired News - 1 hour ago Towards that end, colleagues of his at MIT have spun out a new company, Covalent Solar, to commercialize the technology. Dyeing for More Solar Power Greentech Media, MA - 1 hour ago A team of MIT researchers is starting a new company, Covalent Solar,...

A 'sun tower' is one of the concepts being considered by researchers Scientists are assessing the possibility of embarking on a space engineering project that would eclipse the effort to construct the International Space Station. Researchers from Europe, Japan and the US are considering the viability of building giant solar panels in a low earth orbit that would supply cheap, inexhaustible energy to industry and homes. Building a huge array outside the Earth's atmosphere would have the advantage of having no clouds to interrupt the flow of solar energy to the arrays. Yet the sizeable downside would be the...

When the Costco managers at the headquarters in Issaquah, Wash., decided it was time to embrace solar photovoltaic technology, they selected the Costco warehouse in Lancaster - from among their 480 warehouses worldwide - for the prototype project. At the completion of the project the last week of August, the Lancaster facility will be the site of one of the largest privately owned commercial photovoltaic systems in the United States, said the builders. According to Craig Peal, assistant vice president, when powered up, the system will reduce 44% of the building's peak electrical load on a peak day and "if...

PHOENIX, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- RoseStreet Labs announced today a Solar Cell Commercialization Agreement to develop full spectrum photovoltaics, commonly referred to as PV's or solar cells, utilizing licensed technology jointly developed by Cornell University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. These solar cells will be the first commercialized that capture the broad spectrum of the sun's energy utilizing thin film technology, a single material system and with potential efficiencies exceeding 55%. RoseStreet Labs plans on leveraging FlipChip International, its high volume semiconductor bumping foundry in Phoenix, to produce an excellent low cost renewable energy solution with this technology. The...

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Solar power is one of the world's fastest-growing renewable energy sources, offering a potentially endless supply of power generation capable of meeting the electricity demands of the whole planet. Yet two billion people in developing countries lack access to modern energy services, while solar power -- a possible solution because of its availability anywhere on the globe -- accounts for just 0.1 percent of the world's primary energy demand. "Solar power is all capital costs. What we are struggling with is how to get the capital -- how do we get the investment -- to these people...