December 9, 2006
HERE COMES THE NEXT ICE AGE:
Superefficient, Cost-Effective Solar Cell Breaks Conversion Records: A tiny solar cell doubles the efficiency of common photovoltaics' conversion of sunlight to electricity by capturing the energy from a broader spectrum of light. (Scientific American, 12/08/06)
A tiny chip similar to the solar cells carried by many satellites and other spacecraft today--including the surprisingly long-lived Mars Rovers--has shattered previous records for maximum efficiency in producing electricity from sunlight. "This is the photovoltaic equivalent of the four-minute mile," affirms Larry Kazmerski, director of the Department of Energy's National Center for Photovoltaics in Colorado. "This is a disruptive technology that eventually could provide us, at least in the Southwest, with cost-competitive electricity fairly quickly."Posted by Orrin Judd at December 9, 2006 7:47 PM
Let's get them on-line before the sunni/shiite discourse currently playing itself out in the Middle East explodes (making the protestant reformation & catholic counter-reformation look like a series of boring presidential debates), bringing the flow of oil from that part of the world to a halt and thus causing the world economy to collapse.
Posted by: Dave W at December 10, 2006 8:26 AMThe world economy won't collapse if there's a slow down in the flow of oil money into the hands of sheiks, ex-KGB agents, arms dealers, U.N. officials, EU aristocrats and the like.
There maybe a little adjustment, as they say on Wall Street, but it's the only way, we'll be able to get nuclear power stations going and explore our own resources for oil and gas.
IF W were smart - this is a perfect call to the American people to get behind budget cuts and tell the environazis and the world to go pound sand during SOTU.
Give US the vision and the tools, we'll do the rest.
Posted by: Sandy P at December 10, 2006 6:23 PMWe spend too little for cuts to resonate.
Posted by: oj at December 10, 2006 6:26 PM