[Mamzelle]

Cool bump. Did a lot of studying when I built my house, hoping to try some solar . Far too expensive and complicated--but someday the design will work.

[Sleeping Freeper]

I'm ready for this- if they can make it cheap and put it into house paint and roofing tiles.

[bvw]

"A sweater is already absorbing all sorts of light both in the infrared and the visible," said Sargent. "Instead of just turning that into heat, as it currently does, imagine if it were to turn that into electricity."

Daffy statement that. Gee, we wear sweaters for warmth, not to charge cell phones.

[camle]

mebbe i'm being cynical here, but something dosen't seem right. i don't know what, but whenevre i hear of some magic panacea to our energy needs, i think "pons and fleischman". In other words, i'll beleive it when i see it/

if only the government would give them enough seed money they could make power too cheap to meter. now where have i heard that one before?

[Catspaw]

This would be great on our sailboat--if they can make it in non-skid.

[Petronski]

Just make me a jogging suit out of that stuff. With my surface area, I could power a blender for cocktails on the patio.

[Redbob]

First solar cells to convert infrared?

What do they call thermocouples?

[lysie]

Cool.

I have got to email this to Glenn Beck. He can spray his always cold wife.

[Obadiah]

The researchers envision that one day "solar farms" consisting of the plastic material could be rolled across deserts to generate enough clean energy to supply the entire planet's power needs.

Why not just cover Michael Moore's body? It would be cheaper and it still would likely generate enough energy to supply the entire planet!

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

"If we could cover 0.1 percent of the Earth's surface with [very efficient] large-area solar cells," he said, "we could in principle replace all of our energy habits with a source of power which is clean and renewable."

That's still a hell of a lot of land.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

He said the plastic coating could be woven into a shirt or sweater and used to charge an item like a cell phone.

Just envisioning someone sticking their cellphone plug up Michael Moore's @ss. *shiver*

[kevkrom]

QOLT ping. Not sure how practical this technoogy is, or how profitable it might be, but worth a look...

The "Quality of Life Technologies" low-volume ping list (Freepmail me to join) is interested in technologies that will help maintain and/or improve the standard of living while still being realistic and having the potential to be profitable. To qualify as a QOLT story, I am looking for innovative solutions where capitalism and technology are employed together to solve the issues of energy, pollution, transportation, and/or similar concerns for a increasingly mobile and urban society.

[Puddleglum]

my understanding is that the sun already loaded up the earth with a lot of energy that is currently waiting to be tapped - fossil fuel!

Still, a solar/body heat sweater would be cool. How about pants that capture methane? Or a space heater powered by dirty baby diapers?

[NYCRebublican]

I'm starting an organization right now to put a stop to this. This is the most dangerous idea since the invention of the combustion engine. WE ARE ALL DOOMED I TELL YOU!!!!

If we use these solar panels we will be absorbing 1/10th of 1% of the sun's energy that is usually reflected back into the atmosphere. By absorbing this energy and using it for our greedy needs we will be responsible for GLOBAL COOLING!!!. We must stop this madness now I tell you. (SARCASM OFF)

[Jay777]

I'd say....THE FUTURE IS NOW!!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1330511/posts

[Edward Watson]

Actually, there's an even better plastic photovoltaic material called Lumeloid with a theoretical efficiency of 72-84%. It was invented and patented by Dr. Alvin Marks of Athol, MA, who holds around 130 US patents.

They had a working sample but have been stymied by insufficient funding.

[AmericanChef]

Hmm...if I sprayed my frying pan with it...

[atchoo2]

Spray on and heat powered?.
How about a underarm deodorant than can recharge your cell phone while keeping you dry and fresh all day?

[Drango]

For true geeks who must build their own...This college class at DVC (SF Bay Area)is great. I may take it someday. Tom, the professor, fell off the roof several years ago while adjusting the panels. Got messed up real bad but he's back teaching now.

http://www.dvc.edu/schedule/record_detailSP05.asp?keySection=8184Spring2005AlternateEnergyTechnologies

Catalog Course Description
AET-130 Photovoltaic Systems Design and Installation
2 Units	SC	May Be Repeated Once
2 hours Lecture / 1 hour Laboratory per Week
This course will show students how to do solar site evaluations, electrical load calculations, solar system size calculations, and installation techniques. This course will help students design and install their own solar system and/or obtain skills for employment. CSU

[smith288]

Everything that's warm gives off some heat.

How much does one get paid to know stuff that advanced? ;)