Mapping Renewable Energy, Rooftop by Rooftop

sea-maid submitted, created time 2 weeks 2 days (www.time.com)

The sun shines on everyone — but not in equal measure. That reality has long slowed the spread of solar power. Depending on where you live in the country — or even where you live in your city — the same array of photovoltaic solar panels can produce enough electricity to power your house with watts to spare, or barely cut a nickel from your utility bill. It all comes down to the precise amount of sunlight that hits your roof

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Solar energy hits new efficiency record

Darkfrog submitted, created time 4 weeks 2 days (www.nature.com)

The biggest problem with solar panels and solar cells, more than the expense of making them, has been that they just don't create as big of a return as fossil fuels.

Luminescent solar contractors (LSCs) look like glass panels with colored edges (although this might be artists' license). They are embedded with light-absorbing dyes to catch photons. When the photons are re-emitted, they bounce around inside the glass by total internal reflection (the same principal used in fiber optics) and eventually hit the solar cells mounted along the edges of the panel

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U.S. retailers chase a solar panel deadline

Darkfrog submitted, created time 4 months 4 weeks (www.nytimes.com)

U.S. retailers might consider floor space to be the number one claim on their attention, but they're finally putting those big, flat roofs to work toward the bottom line. No, they're not doing cheery rooftop displays of their merchandise; they're installing solar panels. If they do so before December 31 of this year, they will receive a generous tax write-off.

So far, the big chains like Wal-Mart, Kohls, Whole Foods, and Safeway have outfitted about one in ten stores with rooftop solar panels, but we can expect more if Congress renews their offer for 2009 and beyond

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Nature examines thin-film and other solar cells

Darkfrog submitted, created time 5 months 1 week (www.nature.com)

There are a few different varieties of solar cell on the market and in development, but they've all got their ups and down. Traditional solar cells are now an established technology, but they are very expensive to make and their efficiencies don't top 22%. Other, newer types of solar cells (with one exception) are even less efficient, but they are much less troublesome to mass-produce. Some types of solar cells can even be woven into cloth.

As always, I'm a fan of Natures whole-picture approach. The practical, hopeful and economic aspects of this project all get their treatment.

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Organic dye lets window panes harvest the Sun

sea-maid submitted, created time 5 months 3 weeks (technology.newscientist.com)

Harvesting sunlight before turning it into electricity could become easier thanks to an exotic organic dye developed in the US.

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