Greening You » Video

Advances in solar cell technology

Editor — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:45:50 +0000

New technologies in solar are moving so fast it’s hard to keep on top of it.
It’s becoming abundantly clear that solar cell production is not moving fast enough, and companies are scrabbling for alternatives to silicon that are more affordable, can be produced more rapidly and with less toxic waste associated with some of the production methods.

Production of silicon solar cells used up to 33% of the world’s electronic grade silicon production in 2006. In addition, the production of silicon is expensive and some production methods entail hazardous chemical solvents that can find their way into the environment.

Video of solar panel production.

Toxic waste
One byproduct of polysilicon production is silicon tetrachloride, a colorless, toxic liquid that causes irritation to the respiratory tract, sneezing, coughing, burning throat, a constricting sensation of the larynx and difficulty in breathing. When it combines with water it becomes highly corrosive to metals.

A recent article in the Washington post exposed how solar cell production in China is leaving behind toxic waste, dumping it openly and polluting the land and aquifers.

There is interest in producing silicon from other materials, such as rice hulls, but even this requires leaching the silicon from the hulls with hydrochloric acid. http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=6204723

With all this in mind, many are turning from silicon to find less expensive options. A recent testing of dye-sensitized, silicon-free solar cells in China holds promise.

The technology entails printing a thin film of nano-sized particles of titanium dioxide which is then sprayed with dye which is in contact with an electrolyte solution. When solar radiation hits the dye it injects a negative charge in the pigment nano-particle and a positive charge into the electrolyte solution, which converts sunlight into electrical energy.

So far, the thin film panels
are less efficient than silicon, but there are hopes that productivity can increase significantly soon and compete with silicon in a real way, thereby reducing the cost of solar energy to our environment.

ShareThis

Organic Design

Editor — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:32:55 +0000

Ross Lovegrove talks about designing using organic shapes. He blends his love of technology with a belief that the natural world had the right idea all along: Many of his pieces are inspired by principles of evolution and microbiology.

ShareThis

Michael Pollan on the farm bill, Obama and the politics of food

Editor — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 14:19:14 +0000

ShareThis

Chris Jordan on TED - images of waste

Editor — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:26:43 +0000

Chris Jordan shows us some stunning ways to display data. Move over Tufte.
(From a recent TED talk)

ShareThis

Freegans

Editor — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:47:56 +0000

What is the inspiration for Freegans? Here’s an easy to grasp description.

ShareThis

Why Recycle?

Editor — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:41:12 +0000

4th and 5th graders explain how they tell people about recycling.

ShareThis

DIY WAve Generated power

Editor — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:55:55 +0000

ShareThis

It’s gotta be the hats

Editor — Fri, 16 May 2008 06:33:44 +0000

ShareThis

Reducing packaging

Editor — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:25:17 +0000

We all get frustrated by the insane packaging that some things come in. Even kids. So what to do? U Florida has some good ideas.

ShareThis

Thoughts on McCain’s Environmental plan

Editor — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:01:15 +0000

McCain has long had a hot and cold relationship with the green movement, but maybe he’s taking a page from the California governator’s book about how to suddenly be seen as green as though it’s been a life goal.
Or maybe it was just the moment. In a wind power generation plant.
In any case, now he’s said it he’s going to have to get behind it for the rest of the election at least.

Dave Roberts points out that while better than expected, McCain’s proposals still have a long way to go.

McCain has always supported cap and trade programs and his goals are pretty much what everybody else has proposed. He looks to reduce greenhouse gas emission levels to 60% below 1990 levels by 2050. Obama’s plan of reducing emissions by 80% by 2050 .

He also wants to give away carbon offest permits (rather than auctioning them off) to get corporations with the program. What’s wrong with that idea? Well the whole idea of auctioning off permits is to limit the supply and so make it more expensive to get the permits, encouraging corporations to decrease their need for the permit. If they get them for free what exactly is the motivation? Oh, and of course they could just SELL some of them and make a boatload of money on the credits they got free from the guvmint. How very Republican.

McCain isn’t afraid to take a poke at Bush’s lack of policy though. He said “I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges” in a direct stab at Bush’s open denial then sudden revelation that global warming even exists, and McCain says he plans for the US to lead the post-Kyoto UN process and offer incentives for other countries to sign on.

Interestingly, McCain has really pushed for nuclear power in the past as a way to reduce greenhouse gasses and Ethanol, not so much to save the world, but to reduce our dependencies on foreign oil which “Makes us to vulnerable to the vagaries of foreign nations”.

Bottom line, we’ll wait and see how McCain develops his policies and really puts his policies into action. Who knows, maybe we’ll get a president who listens to the scientists instead of suppressing them.
Naaah. I’m still voting for. Obama.

ShareThis