Solar Power here today : "SUNRGI, University of Tel Aviv boast of solar power advances"

Reading another thread, it dawned on me that many people believe that we are still decades away from efficient solar power.

Even though the US govt. has missed the boat on this, and spent a bazillion dollars to drive up the cost of oil instead of working on making the US energy-independant, that doesnt mean that others arent.

SUNRGI, University of Tel Aviv boast of solar power advances
by Donald Melanson, posted May 1st 2008 at 3:49PM

It looks like we've got a bit of intercontinental solar power action today, with Silicon Valley start-up SUNRGI and the University of Tel Aviv both recently boasting of some advances in the field, which they each unsurprisingly say could change things in a big way. For its part, SUNRGI claims that its "concentrated photovoltaic" system (pictured above) can produce as much electricity as much larger solar panels thanks to its use of lenses that magnify sunlight 2,000 times. That, they say, could allow the system to produce electricity for as little as 7 cents per kilowatt hour, or roughly the same price as coal -- and as soon as mid-2009, no less.

Not to be outdone, some scientists at the University of Tel Aviv say they've managed to create some super-efficient photovoltaic cells of their own that cost "at least a hundred times less than conventional silicon based devices." The key to their system, it seems, is the use of some good old fashioned photosynthesis, which they were able to achieve not-so-old-fashionedly with the aid of some genetically engineered proteins and a little bit of nanotechnology. As with SUNRGI, they're also promising to get the system out the door as soon as possible, with them reportedly aiming to get a "cost effective" 10mm X 10mm device produced "within three years."

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/01/sunrgi-university-of-tel-aviv-boast-of-solar-power-advances/

Additional article:

USA Today :
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2008-04-28-solar-power-sunrgi_N.htm





So in a nutshell, the technology now exists to generate solar energy at a cost equal to, or lower than coal. Production will start Mid-2009. Maybe the govt should be spending a few billion on this instead of HD TV converter cupons. Whats more important, keeping people watching TV, or energy independance?

If people stopped watching the propaganda viewer, there might be a societal collapse as people realize how fucked they've let themselves become when they sit and think instead of sit and watch. There would be more people out on the street playing instead of being inside watching TV. Worse yet, they might revert back to reading...for fun. With all those people out there on the street talking, "bad ideas" might spread, like about what to do to a system that threw them overboard decades ago.

Rich people's worst nightmare: The peasants learn to read and rebel against the landed gentry.

I am reading "Loser Take All", if you are unfamiliar, its about the subversion of the electoral process during the last 8 years or so. When I try to engage my friends in conversation about it, they look at me like I am crazy. They honestly cannot believe anything beyond what they see on TV.

For instance, another poster elsewhere on the board said her husband gave it a decade or more before the health care system collapsed. She didn't even give it that long. When the system collapses, there will be a lot of pain, and it might provide an opening for real change, at least in terms of implementing single-payer universal health insurance, but again, there will be a lot of pain.

I fear the same scenario as far as switching to alternative energy sources. We seem to want to burn out something completely rather than switching before the old fuel runs out, but burning the old fuel is what will throw the planet off kilter.

So that we can not only keep watching TV, but so that we can watch more TV. That's the point of cheap energy.

And there is no such thing as energy independence.

How so?

It may be impossible, I dont know, but certaintly its a goal to strive toward.

We won't harness and extract energy from the environment without changing the environment. Every species does that simply by existing, but we do it on a global level now. Not only do we do that on a global level, but we do it with the help of dead energy(oil, coal, etc), since we no longer only use live energy(hunting, gathering, etc). Now we want to use the energy that helps regulate the planet(wind, solar, biofuels, etc). How will we change things on that scale? I don't know, but nature doesn't waste energy, so we'll be harnessing and extracting that energy from the rest of life on the planet in some way. Maybe that's is the right thing to do, maybe that's the only thing we can do as a species, but it won't be independence.

the world will be clamoring to buy.