Flexible solar panel set to revolutionize renewable energy

[LaurenG]

Imagine being able to paint a renewable energy source on the walls of your house, without having to shell out most of your life's earnings.
Well, this may no longer be in the realm of fantasy, with researchers from New Mexico State University and Wake Forest University working on an organic solar panel that is not only flexible, but can also be wrapped around structures, and comes much cheaper than the conventional ones.

Unlike traditional solar panels, which are made of silicon and are expensive and brittle like glass, organic solar cells are made of plastic, and are inexpensive.

Physicist Seamus Curran, head of the nanotechnology laboratory at NMSU, where this was developed, said that while traditional solar panels had an efficiency of three to four percent, the plastic ones had an efficiency level of 5.2 percent.



http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=132556&n_date=20051008&cat=Science

[mhr]

1. Just Watch - Bush Will Manage To Screw This Up As Well

eom

[ladjf]

2. This technology is promising. Perhaps our automobiles will

be painted with these panels charging up on-board batteries anytime the sun hits them.

[LaurenG]

3. I hope they hurry

I don't think the economy can hold up under these gas prices.

[ladjf]

5. Gas is 12 cents per gallon in Venezuela. Meanwhile, ExonMobile

racked up the largest quarter profit (over 8 billion) last quarter. That is the largest quarterly profit ever reported my an American corporation. So, the energy bill will give them numerous new tax breaks as well as pay for future refinery construction. Does it seem like to you that something stinks here?

[WhiteTara]

6. oil companies have no intention of building new

refineries. They will of course take the money.

[dweller]

4. i keep hoping to hear something new from

www.nanosolar.com

concerning product release. . .

dp

[cliss]

7. Interesting developments.

I will be watching this with interest. I think it's about time we got out from the Saudi hammer and lived a better life.

It's great to read some GOOD news for a change. Plus, this would not make Bush very happy so it's a bonus.

[Kablooie]

8. But can they make a solar hat that will light my cigarettes?

[bunny planet]

9. Better start making those fast if they truly work well, because plastic,

is a petroleum product. In order to make more of these flexible panels made from plastic, we will still need to change our ways and conserve oil and gas in the farming and transportation industry in order to manufacture more plastics that can be used for alternative energy infrastructure. All roads out of this mess lead to conservation, somethng the * crime family (and to a great degree the American public too) has shown themselves unwilling to do. Maybe the harsh winter, higher prices at the pump, and heating costs will convince the majority of people they have to demand a new energy policy and demand affordable alternative energy research and products in an accelerated time frame.