Industrial Revolution 2

Sandia scientists successfully test a machine that creates fuel from carbon dioxide.

Note from IR2: A closed system that addresses multiple issues! Creating energy and decreasing CO2. I’d love more people thinking this way.

By Tyler Hamilton
Technology Review

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have successfully demonstrated a prototype machine that uses the sun’s energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into the molecular building blocks that make up transportation fuels. The “Sunshine to Petrol” system could ultimately prove a practical way to recycle CO? from power and industrial plants into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, assuming the process can become at least twice as efficient as natural photosynthesis.

Here’s the article…

Technorati Tags:
Climate Change, CO2, Solar Energy

Technology Review

Note: Looking forward to this technology!

Cool Energy, a startup based in Boulder, CO, is developing a system that produces heat and electricity from the sun. It could help make solar energy competitive with conventional sources of energy in relatively dark and cold climates, such as the northern half of the United States and countries such as Canada and Germany

Here’s the article…

Technorati Tags:
Solar Power

Technology Review: Nanopillar Solar Cells

MONDAY, JULY 06, 2009

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have made a new kind of solar cell by growing an array of upright nanoscale pillars on aluminum foil. They make bendable solar cells by encapsulating the entire cell inside a transparent, rubbery polymer. The design, the researchers suggest, could lead to solar cells that cost less than conventional silicon photovoltaics.

The nanopillars allow the researchers to use cheaper, lower-quality materials than those used in conventional silicon and thin-film technologies.

Here’s the article…

Technorati Tags:
Solar Panels, Solar Energy

Ausra – Press Releases: Solar Power Company Ausra Launches First Solar Thermal Plant in California in Nearly 20 Years

Solar Power Company Ausra Launches First Solar Thermal Plant in California in Nearly 20 Years

Governor Schwarzenegger on Hand as Next Generation Solar Technology Provides Power and Industrial Steam on Cost-Competitive Basis

Bakersfield, CA—October 23, 2008—Ausra, Inc. (http://www.ausra.com) and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today launched the company’s Kimberlina Solar Thermal Energy Plant in Bakersfield, CA, showcasing the company’s “next generation” concentrating solar thermal technology.

Governor Schwarzenegger joined Ausra President, CEO and Chairman Bob Fishman, U.S. Reps. Jim Costa (CA-20) and Kevin McCarthy (CA-22), California Assemblymember Jean Fuller and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) CEO Peter Darbee in launching a new era of solar thermal power with the turning of Ausra’s large solar thermal mirrors—harvesting California sunshine and creating California jobs.

“This plant proves that our technology is real, it works, and it’s ready to power businesses or provide process steam for industries—now,” said Fishman. “Ausra is first on the market, providing customers a dependable, cost-effective solar thermal energy system. Some of the best investment minds in the country have backed our technology and our management team’s ability to deliver.”

At full output, Kimberlina will be able to generate 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 3,500 homes in central California. The Kimberlina plant is the first solar plant in the country to utilize Ausra’s next generation technology, and it is the first solar thermal power plant of any type built in California in nearly 20 years.

“This next generation solar power plant is further evidence that reliable, renewable and pollution-free technology is here to stay, and it will lead to more California homes and businesses powered by sunshine,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “Not only will this large-scale solar facility generate power to help us meet our renewable energy goals, it will also generate new jobs as California continues to pioneer the clean-tech industry.”

Technology Review:
The first prototype cell to use photonic crystals looks promising.

By Prachi Patel-Predd

Researchers at MIT have unveiled a new type of silicon solar cell that could be much more efficient and cost less than currently used solar cells. Materials science and engineering professor Lionel Kimerling and his colleagues presented results of the first device prototype at a recent meeting of the Materials Research Society in Boston.

The design combines a highly effective reflector on the back of a solar cell with an antireflective coating on the front. This helps trap red and near-infrared light, which can be used to make electricity, in the silicon. The research team is licensing similar technology to StarSolar, a startup in Cambridge, MA.

Here’s the rest of the article…

AFP:

France sets plan to double green share of electricity market

“Solar is the big one.”

PARIS (AFP) — France on Monday published details of plans to double the share of renewable sources in its electricity market to meet a 2020 EU objective.

Solar will spearhead the challenge to give renewables a 23-percent share of the electricity mix by 2020, compared with 10.3 percent in 2005, Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said, as he unveiled the 50-point plan.

“Solar is the big one,” said Borloo. “In industrial terms, and in terms of lower industrial costs, it’s there that we have the biggest capacity.”

He contended that solar energy would be competitive with other sources “around 2020.”

Here’s the article…