NEWS: Suck My Solar Power, Saudi Arabia

POLITICS: Suck My Solar Power, Saudi Arabia

Every once is a while a new technology comes along that completely changes our world. One such technology started hitting the market yesterday and it is fucking awesome. It is a solar panel without the panel. This new technology is thin as a paint coating and it coverts sunlight to electricity. Oh, and it’s cheaper than coal. I just got my first sunlight erection.



The company, Nanosolar, has built two plants, one in Germany and the other in Silicon Valley. They already have orders for 18 months of production.

The company is backed by Google, of course, and they received $20 million from the US Department of Energy. The technology has been around for years, but the Silicon Valley based Nanosolar was the company that devised a way to make the manufacturing process affordable. They created printing press like machines to put a layer of solar-absorbing nano-ink onto metal sheets as thin as aluminum foil. Now we live in a world where solar powered buildings will be plentiful, which will reduce pollutants produced by dirty energy sources. Because it is fucking cheaper than coal. I just got another sunlight erection.

The panels will cost about a tenth of what current solar panels cost and several hundred feet per minute can be whipped out. As of now, the plant can create 430 megawatts of solar cells a year, which is more than all the solar plants currently in the US. Cost has always been what held solar back from being a popular energy source. Traditional solar cells use silicon, which is very expensive. It then has to be placed on glass, which makes the panels heavy, dangerous, expensive to ship and install. And 70 percent of the silicon is wasted during manufacturing. The end result is panels that cost $3 per watt, while the new PowerSheets cost $1 per watt.



Looks like the only problem will be keeping up with demand. California has a state initiative that provides tax breaks and rebates to encourage the installation of 100,000 roofs a year for 10 consecutive years.







You know what’s fun about scientists? Nothing. Anytime they are on screen, there is a horrible void. Thankfully, his lack of charisma is crushed by his world changing brain.

this is fucking brilliant. thats all i have to say, fucking brilliant.

Let's hope there are some heavy interests behind it so that this thing catches up instead of being buried in the name of the political power of oil as many equally brilliant ideas before it did.

Awesome I can see the hot sunny states here in Australia using this to great effect.

Yea!

Time to spread the word.

There are just as many interests who want this technology. This may in fact knock out the hydrogen fuel cell car idea if they can get good enough mileage that this can power a car effectively.

I can't fucking wait till we don't need oil anymore tho the next battles will then be over mineral resources in africa......

Good to hear Google is helping to back this. I otherwise imagine the coal industry would have already bought them out and dismantled the company.

So excited about this.

Yes, please.

Yay! It's great to hear some good news; thanks FTR!

Perhaps someone who knows more about electricity in general can help me with this. I read both of the above linked sites as well as some Q&A's with the company president, and there was no mention of possible residential uses for this. It seems as though they are only selling to large solar plants right now. Would this be something that we could see being put on the roofs of homes or is it solely commercial and on a large scale?

Most likely it would have to start out with the people who can pay out big bucks IE energy companies, as the technology improves further and they get more capital they will be able to lower the prices further and eventually expand into the civilian market. Least thats usually how it goes.

FINALLY, my idea of the future is becoming reality

Now, I can't wait to see what unheard of, non-science oriented, faith based, oil sponsored, right-wing, Christian reasoning le BUSH and his goons will come up with?

Maybe the solar panels will deflect Jesus's return to Earth and lead him falsely to Planet Xorloq? Or, maybe the solar panels will generate radiation that will turn the dinosaur bones into living organisms again and they will kill mankind?

Wait, there is actually some good news?!?! I had forgotten what that was like.
I have a sunlight erection also.

I don't see what you're on about with the lack of charisma comment.

FTR, I'm really surprised that you didn't title this "Suck My Solar Balls, Saudi Arabia."

But, this totally gives me fever. It's got repurposing old equipment, and building new frontiers. Awesome!

I'd also like for us to get to a point where households and industry alike use all, or most, of our wastes as sources of energy, or otherwise repurposed.

ditto....but then again, i'm an engineering major so i'm probably just used to being interacting with, and sometimes being, a void.

you know, we may just pull our asses out of the fire yet.

i second that. i mean c'mon, Stephen Hawking is the sshex!

Umm... you didn't watch the video feature?

Anyways, for anybody who doesn't see it, this is a rather BFD...

I swear to [pick a fake god] that I will have every flat surface of my house covered with this stuff within 5 years...

think your being a tad over optimistic

Quick, somebody say something about Ron Paul.... there is too much positivity going on here.

I want to wrap my body in this stuff . . . well, not really, but I would like to see it incorporated on all roofs. Now, if they can only make it in purty shapes and colors

I didn't until just now. I missed it completely. Thanks...that makes my brain feel much better.