Thursday, November 21, 2002

And in other energy news... New solar cells from LBL.  Discovery may yield full spectrum solar cell.  Extremely interesting if it pans out.  Basically, some new work in materials technology for LEDs has led to the development of a low cost compound that works across the full spectrum of visible light.  ~70% efficiency vs. ~15-20% currently.   I did a little work on what it would cost to power my home, and I found that a $14k system would supply about 1/3 of my needs using existing solar cell technology.  If similar price points are in place (based on the size of the panels) with a more efficient system, I could buy a system that supplies all of my needs and provide a recoupment of 100% of the investment in 4 years (and that's in New England!).  [John Robb's Radio Weblog] And a little household energy efficiency will go a long way to improving that rate of return. (25% simple ROI. Try to get THAT in any other legal investment!) 7:59:38 PM    comment []  trackback []

Exxon-Led Group Is Giving a Climate Grant to Stanford. Four big international companies will give Stanford University $225 million over 10 years for research on ways to meet growing energy needs without worsening global warming. By Andrew C. Revkin. [New York Times: Science] Which, as one environmental campmaigner points out (in the article), is a fraction of a percent of the $100 Billion Exxon/Mobil plans to spend on oil & gas exploration over the next decade. 7:56:56 PM    comment []  trackback []