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  • WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 19 2007 9:00 AM

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 first Nanosolar panels are destined for a one-megawatt solar plant to be installed in Germany on a former landfill owned by a waste management company. The plant, being developed by Beck Energy, is expected to initially supply electrical power for about 400 homes.


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.


"You’re talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, printing it on garages, printing it wherever you want it,” says Dan Kammen, founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. “It really is quite a big deal in terms of altering the way we think about solar and in inherently altering the economics of solar.”


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.

 

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Comments
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I'm lost
February 2006

DEC 19, 2007 11:37 AM

FUCK YEA ! GO AMERICA!

scorp17yh

scorp17yh

Brookings, OR
November 2004

DEC 19, 2007 11:40 AM

How long before the Bush Administration outlaws this stuff.

ericwine

ericwine

Charlotte Hall, MD
January 2007

DEC 19, 2007 11:43 AM

Wow, this is excellent news. I think there will be a lot of sunlight erections.

MrStitches

MrStitches

Brooklyn, NY
November 2003

DEC 19, 2007 11:44 AM

This is great. Now if only we could find a better way to store power, we'd really be going someplace.

_kungfoo_

_kungfoo_

Los Angeles, CA
April 2005

DEC 19, 2007 11:48 AM

scorp17yh said:
How long before the Bush Administration outlaws this stuff.



Probably around the same time they outlaw nutball conspiracy theories.

Hunter

Hunter

SUICIDEGIRL

New York, USA

DEC 19, 2007 12:05 PM

so exciting!

Colinism

Colinism

Atlanta, GA
July 2005

DEC 19, 2007 12:08 PM

FearTheReaper said:

Colinism said:

Bev_Antain said:
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.



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......



You are so cute to think the wars will be over minerals.

Water, son, water.



Have fun with all that water and nothing to hold it in. It's all about plumbing son. He who controls the pipes controls the universe. wink

Skywisdom

Skywisdom

Portland, OR
December 2005

DEC 19, 2007 01:12 PM

Anyone wanna come join me in a little environmentalist dance?

Hunkpapa

Hunkpapa

United Kingdom
June 2004

DEC 19, 2007 01:16 PM

Colinism said:

FearTheReaper said:

Colinism said:

Bev_Antain said:
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.



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......



You are so cute to think the wars will be over minerals.

Water, son, water.



Have fun with all that water and nothing to hold it in. It's all about plumbing son. He who controls the pipes controls the universe. wink



without any water, what will you put in your pipes?

Colinism

Colinism

Atlanta, GA
July 2005

DEC 19, 2007 01:29 PM

Hunkpapa said:

Colinism said:

FearTheReaper said:

Colinism said:

Bev_Antain said:
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.



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......



You are so cute to think the wars will be over minerals.

Water, son, water.



Have fun with all that water and nothing to hold it in. It's all about plumbing son. He who controls the pipes controls the universe. wink



without any water, what will you put in your pipes?



ACK you took my Dune reference post seriously. biggrin

Well ok here is a more serious answer then. With the ability to produce cheaper electricity from solar or hydrogen or what not comes the ability to desalinate large enough amounts of water for that not to be a problem. HOWEVER you still need the raw materials to produce the machinery and such

Hunkpapa

Hunkpapa

United Kingdom
June 2004

DEC 19, 2007 01:38 PM

Colinism said:

Hunkpapa said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Colinism said:

FearTheReaper said:

Colinism said:

Bev_Antain said:
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.



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......



You are so cute to think the wars will be over minerals.

Water, son, water.



Have fun with all that water and nothing to hold it in. It's all about plumbing son. He who controls the pipes controls the universe. wink



without any water, what will you put in your pipes?



ACK you took my Dune reference post seriously. biggrin

Well ok here is a more serious answer then. With the ability to produce cheaper electricity from solar or hydrogen or what not comes the ability to desalinate large enough amounts of water for that not to be a problem. HOWEVER you still need the raw materials to produce the machinery and such



I don't know much about water desalination, but I do know I haven't read or watched Dune, so yeah, I missed that one biggrin

Colinism

Colinism

Atlanta, GA
July 2005

DEC 19, 2007 01:44 PM

Hunkpapa said:

Colinism said:

Hunkpapa said:

SPOILERS! (Click to view)

Colinism said:

FearTheReaper said:

Colinism said:
Bev_Antain said:
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.



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......



You are so cute to think the wars will be over minerals.

Water, son, water.



Have fun with all that water and nothing to hold it in. It's all about plumbing son. He who controls the pipes controls the universe. wink



without any water, what will you put in your pipes?



ACK you took my Dune reference post seriously. biggrin

Well ok here is a more serious answer then. With the ability to produce cheaper electricity from solar or hydrogen or what not comes the ability to desalinate large enough amounts of water for that not to be a problem. HOWEVER you still need the raw materials to produce the machinery and such



I don't know much about water desalination, but I do know I haven't read or watched Dune, so yeah, I missed that one biggrin

No problem. just so you know everything in the Dune universe revolves around a mind and body altering spice that allows everything from superpowers to space travel. Without the spice the entire system would simply collapse, anyhow the Quote goes "He who controls the spice, controls the universe." smile

tylerdurdn73

tylerdurdn73

New York, NY
September 2007

DEC 19, 2007 02:49 PM

i feel like I'm in sim city and I'm upgrading my coal plants to solar plants. Awesome!!!!

bean

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

DEC 19, 2007 03:21 PM

Bev_Antain said:
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.



Google's pretty big. I mean, just sorta. wink

Metaverse

Metaverse

USA
March 2005

DEC 19, 2007 03:53 PM

I really like to see progress like this.

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