Three Ways to Make Solar Cheaper than Coal

Written by Hank Green
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
EcoGeek

Solar power is magnificently exciting. Just lay down a sheet or a panel and every day, for the life of the device, you get free power. There are no fuel costs. No one is ever going to start charging $4 per gallon of sunlight. But, unfortunately, the size of the initial investment keeps the cost of solar generated power higher than the cost of coal.

It's worth noting that, if you take into account the environmental costs of burning coal, solar power is already slightly more economically sound (according to an analysis by the IPCC.) But we're not taxing carbon (yet) so we've got to make solar power cheaper.

There are thousands of people working on that right now. But here are three of the finest examples of companies that are working to bring solar power to grid parity.

Concentrate on the Silicon
The most expensive part of a traditional photovoltaic array is the silicon wafers. It's the same stuff that microchips are made out of, and it's in short supply. The solar industry eats up every ounce of the stuff that's being produced today, and so prices are skyrocketing. To solve this problem (and also the problem of the environmentally wasteful process of creating the silicon crystals) several people, including IBM and a small startup called Sunrgi are concentrating the sunlight thousands of times onto a extremely small solar panel. They decrease the amount of solar material needed by thousands of times, and produce just as much power.



The result is solar power that is nearly as cheap (if not as cheap) as coal and a VERY HOT piece of silicon. Thus the big problem with this technology. You have to keep the silicon cool, even with sunlight magnified 2000x on it. Otherwise the silicon will melt, and it's all over. Both IBM and Sunrgi are using techniques learned from the microprocessor industry to keep their silicon cells cool. Both have working prototypes already and are hoping to go commercial in the coming year.

Beyond Silicon
Another solution to the problem of limited and expensive crystalline silicon is to just not use it. Which is why there are so many solar startups right now working on solar technology using non-crystalline silicon or other thin-film solutions. The real champion of the thin-film startups is Nanosolar, which has already broken out of the lab and into manufacturing.

Nanosolar prints it's mixture of several elements in precise proportions onto a metal film. The production is fast, simple and cheap, at least for now. Some fear that shortages in indium will bring a halt to nanosolar's cheap printing days. But if that fate can be avoided, Nanosolar, and other thin film manufacturers are already pretty far down the path to grid parity. Though they make some efficiency sacrifices when compared to crystalline silicon, they are so much cheaper to produce that they might soon even beat coal in cost per watt.

The Case for Extreme Heat
While the first two options provide the most efficient path to solar electricity, but converting photons directly into electrons, a less efficient, though simpler, option might turn out to be the real coal-killer.

Simply by focusing hundreds or even thousands of mirrors onto a single point, several startups are hoping to create the kind of heat necessary to run a coal fired power plant...but without the coal. The heat would boil water which would then be used to turn turbines. The advantage of such a system is that there are already lots of steam turbines being produced for traditional power plants, and the rest of the technology just involves shiny objects and concrete.

One problem does present itself, however, when you start to try and make these things too hot. The material holding the boiler has to be able to withstand the extreme heat that these installations can produce. That kind of material, that won't melt or degrade under such extreme heat, can be quite expensive.

Nonetheless, Google-funded startup, eSolar, is saying that by modularizing the construction of these "concentrating solar thermal" power plants, they could be cheaper than coal today.

If Not Today...Then Tomorrow
As coal and gas have remained extremely cheap over the last fifty years, there's been very little pressure to innovate and move beyond that technology. But now, with natural gas prices increasing along with concerns about global warming, we're finally ready to innovate. And expansions in materials and nanotechnology are making the change even more interesting.

It's no longer a question in my mind of if we can get solar cheaper than coal, it's simply when, and whether another renewable energy, like geothermal or wind, will beat solar to the punch.

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1792/83/

Apes get legal rights in Spain, to surprise of bullfight critics

TimesOnline June 27, 2008

Thomas Catan in Madrid

Spain is to become the first country to extend legal rights to apes, wrongfooting animal rights activists who have long campaigned against bullfighting in the country.

In what is thought to be the first time a national legislature has granted such rights to animals, the Spanish parliament’s environmental committee voted to approve resolutions committing the country to the Great Apes Project, designed by scientists and philosophers who say that humans’ closest biological relatives also deserve rights.

The resolution, adopted with crossparty support, calls on the Government to promote the Great Apes Project internationally and ensure the protection of apes from “abuse, torture and death”. “This is a historic moment in the struggle for animal rights,” Pedro Pozas, the Spanish director of the Great Apes Project, told The Times. “It will doubtless be remembered as a key moment in the defence of our evolutionary comrades.”

Reactions to the vote were mixed. Many Spaniards were perplexed that the country should consider it a priority when the economy is slowing sharply and Spain has been rocked by violent fuel protests. Others thought it was a strange decision, given that Spain has no wild apes of its own.

In an editorial yesterday, the Madrid daily El Mundo noted that the only apes in Spain were “the ones that could cross over from Gibraltar”, and questioned why the country should become “the principal flag-bearer of the apes” cause. “With the problems that Spanish farmers and fishermen are experiencing, it is surprising that members of Congress should dedicate their efforts to trying to turn the country of bullfighting into the principal defender of the apes,” it wrote.

Spain’s conservative Popular Party also complained that the resolution sought to give animals the same rights as humans — something that the Socialist Government denies. Some critics questioned why Spain should afford legal protection from death or torture to great apes but not bulls. But Mr Pozas said that the vote would set a precedent, establishing legal rights for animals that could be extended to other species. “We are seeking to break the species barrier — we are just the point of the spear,” he said.

The resolutions will outlaw harmful experiments on great apes, though activist say that they have no knowledge of any being carried out in Spain. It will also make keeping great apes for circuses, TV commercials or filming a criminal offence.

Keeping apes in zoos will remain legal, but conditions for the 350 apes in Spanish zoos will have to improve. Animal rights activists say that 70 per cent of apes in Spanish zoos live in sub-human conditions. The philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri founded the Great Ape Project in 1993, saying that hominids such as chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans should enjoy the right to life and freedom and not to be mistreated.

The ape world

— In addition to humans there are three genera of great apes: gorillas, chimpanzees and orang-utans

— The first two are confined to Africa, while the third occurs in South-East Asia

— Humans and chimps share 99 per cent of their active genetic material

— 7,300 Sumatran orang-utans remain in the wild

— The mountain gorillas of the Democratic Republic of Congo have dwindled to 700, and the Cross River gorilla is believed to number only 250

— The UN predicts that some species of great ape could be extinct within a generation

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4220884.ece

Slovenia’s Gorgeous Honeycomb Housing Complex

June 23, 2008
Slovenia’s Gorgeous Honeycomb Housing Complex
by Mike Chino


This stunning seaside structure bursts free from the all-too-frequently stale stock of public housing projects with its dynamic array of brightly shaded cells. Taking its cues from the modular honeycomb clusters of a beehive, the complex was constructed as a low-income residence for young families and couples in the industrial district of Izola on the Slovenian coast. The striking development boasts beautiful views and makes smart use of solar shading and natural ventilation to regulate its interiors all year-round.


At first glance, one can’t help but be taken in by the building’s beautiful staggered balconies. Designed to mimic the rhythmic structure of honeycomb, the layout creates “dynamic elevations and offers privacy to the neighboring owners.” We’re also impressed by the collaborative effort behind the project which at its core was comprised of a 9-person design team including Rok Oman, Špela Videčnik, Martina Lipicer, Neža Oman, Nejc Batistič, Florian Frey, Marisa Baptista, and špela uršič.

Each of the balcony modules is topped with a colorful textile shade that provides for efficient solar shading and ventilation: “Textile elements fixed on the front of the balconies block direct sunlight and accumulate ‘air buffer’ zone. In the summer, hot air accumulated in the area behind the shadings is naturally ventilated through (10 cm holes) perforated side partitions of the balconies. In the winter the warm air stays in the area and provides additional heating to the apartments.”

We love seeing such inspired approaches toward social design!

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/06/23/slovenias-gorgeous-honeycomb-housing-complex/

Construction to Start on Rotating Wind-Power Tower

Remember way back last May when we talked about the twirling tower that seemed, well, off the wall? Surprise, surprise, it is set to start construction in Dubai this month.

Each of the 59 floors of the tower will be able to rotate independently of each other, and in between them will be wind turbines to generate all the power needed to run the tower, plus, apparently, several others. The tower is expected to generate 10 times the power it needs through solar panels on the roof and 48 wind turbines, each of which are expected to generate as much as 0.3 megawatts of electricity, creating an estimated 1,200,000 kilowatt hours of energy annually. These are some seriously big numbers…and we’ll see how they pan out.

As for the construction, the floors will be made of 12 individual units all created in a factory and spit out fully complete, with plumbing, electrical, air conditioning and everything else in place. The floors will then be fitted to a concrete tower core According to architect David Fisher, designer of the building, this construction will make it highly earthquake resistant, as well as just plain neat to watch as folks push the button that makes their floor spin.

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1757/66/

Dental Mercury Victory

AAHF is pleased to announce that the Food and Drug Administration must now classify mercury fillings! We congratulate Consumers for Dental Choices, Moms Against Mercury, International Academy of Oral and Metal Toxicology, and all other groups and individuals who have dedicated years to the issue of the dangers of dental mercury.

This is a successful end to a 10-year battle to get the FDA to comply with the law and set a date to classify mercury amalgam.

On Monday, June 2, Consumers for Dental Choice announced that they settled the lawsuit, Moms Against Mercury et al. v. Von Eschenbach, Commissioner, et al and that the FDA will finish classifying within one year of the close of the public comment period on its amalgam policy, that is, by July 28, 2009.

Charlie Brown, General Council for Consumers for Dental Choice stated, “There’s more good news. During a several hour negotiation session, FDA agreed to change its website on amalgam -- dramatically. Gone, gone, gone are all of FDA’s claims that no science exists that amalgam is unsafe, or that other countries have acted for environmental reasons only, or that the 2006 Scientific Panel vote affirmed amalgam’s safety. Instead -- see http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/consumer/amalgams.html -- FDA has moved to a neutral course, while recognizing the serious health concerns posed by amalgam in particular for children and unborn children, for pregnant women, for those with mercury immuno-sensitivity or high mercury body burdens.”

As Charlie says, this isn’t a perfect win but it is a 180-degree reversal from FDA’s 30-year policy of protecting mercury fillings. This win also shows that health freedom can make a difference even when going against Goliath.

This wasn’t a one-prong approach -- these groups (including AAHF) developed strategies, built a united voice, and relied on credible information. To change the policy, there were petitions, Congressional hearings, state fact sheet laws, Scientific Advisory Committee hearings, and support letters, all setting the stage for the lawsuit.

The impact of the re-writing of FDA’s position on amalgam can hardly be understated. Their website will no longer be cited by the American Dental Association in public hearings. FDA shows awareness of the key issues involved. As it prepares to classify amalgam, FDA has moved to a position of neutrality. Indeed, having repeatedly raised the question of amalgam’s risk to children, young women, and the immuno-sensitive persons in its website, it is inconceivable that FDA will not in some way protect them in its upcoming rule.

Please join us in celebrating this victory and consider giving a donation to the Consumers for Dental Choice to help off-set their costs of taking the lead on this issue. Visit: www.toxicteeth.org for more information.


http://www.healthfreedom.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=460&Itemid=