Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria recently got some face-to-face time with Elon Musk, who, as you surely know by now, is one of the "product architects" at Tesla Motors. There were plenty of interesting quotes to come from the interview, but a few truly stood out from the rest. For instance, Musk slams plug-in hybrids pretty mercilessly while also claiming that the "a majority of all new cars produced in the United States, perhaps worldwide, will be electric. And I don't mean hybrid. I mean pure electric," within just thirty years. What's more, Musk adds that one of his other start-up companies, SolarCity, has the solution to what he refers to as the "'long tailpipe' criticism," where EV opponents point to the fact that much of the electricity in the U.S. comes from dirty sources such as coal. A small solar-panel setup of about 10 by 15 feet [is enough] to generate 200 to 400 miles a week of electricity for your car," according to Musk. We can get behind the idea of charging our own electric cars for the week with our own solar array mounted atop the roof our our garage. Maybe in thirty years that won't sound so far-fetched.

[Source: Newsweek]

We've written before about Honda's production of solar cells, but did you know that Mitsubishi actually ranks as the world's sixth-largest manufacturer of PV cells? Currently, Mitsubishi Electric cranks out about 120 megawatts worth of solar cells a year, although they have the capacity for 150 megawatts. They plan to increase production to 230 annual megawatts by April of 2009. Solar cells are a hot commodity these days as the power industry, just like the automotive industry, is in the process of "greening" their image. In fact, Mitsubishi believes that the worldwide demand for solar cells could quadruple to 10,000 megawatts as early as 2010. If demand remains high, Mitsubishi Electric could increase its output to 500 megawatts by 2012.

The Idaho National Laboratory, Microcontinuum, Inc. and Patrick Pinhero from the University of Missouri are developing an exciting new technology which uses "nano-antennas" to capture solar energy. What is especially cool about this new solar technology is that it would operate both during the day and at night by using the leftover radiation after the sun goes down. Each nano-antenna is a spiral as wide as 1/25 the diameter of a human hair, meaning that many of them can be fit into a tiny space, and may be as much as 80 percent efficient.

At this time, researchers have a ways to go before the technology is commercialized, but they are hoping that their finished product would be no more expensive as a coating than a cheap layer of carpeting.

[Source: Gizmag]

From what I have heard, the efficiency of solar cells is at best about 40 percent or so. That is not good enough at current manufacturing costs to make it possible for the technology to compete with other forms of power that consumers can purchase. So, either the efficiency must increase or the cost to produce the cells must decrease. It looks like Professor W.S. Sampath from Colorado State University has developed a technique to create solar cells without the pricey silicon, therefore making the cells cheaper to make. However, it appears that the efficiency is not quite up to par yet with the current standards. In any case, the cost per watt of the power could potentially drop to the point that solar does become cost-effective for the average consumer to consider. That's good news, and maybe the efficiency could increase with more development, making this truly a win-win scenario.

[Source: Slashdot via Engadget]

Again, as we pointed out in a previous posting, solar power is likely the most environmentally source of power available, but there are problems associated with it. Currently, solar cells are not cheap enough, nor are they powerful enough to replace much of our existing power generation methods. The fact that they are environmentally friendly alone is not enough to overcome the problems associated with the almighty dollar. Additionally, the current process of creating solar panels uses silicon, which, although there is plenty of it, is expensive to process.

Researchers in New Zealand, however, hope to achieve less expensive cells while making their manufacture more eco-friendly in the process. This technology uses synthetic colored dyes, using compounds related to those used in nature for photosynthesis. This technology is not ready to bring to market, but they do have a working proof-of-concept. They believe that they could be commercially viable in as little as two years. I have posed this idea before, but how about the tinted windows of your car charging the vehicles' battery?

Thanks for the tip, Ray!

[Source: Stuff.co.nz]

While a vehicle speeding down 250 yards in 57 seconds doesn't sound very fast, it's the hare beating the tortoise when the 'vehicle' is powered by the sun.

The winner was Brooks Solar and the contest was the second Annual Solar Drag Race. Held in Wenatchee, Washington, it is currently the only drag race in the world whose vehicles are all powered by solar power. That's pure sun-power, too; the contestants were forbidden to even use batteries to start their engines.

Other competitors included Chehalis High School and Central Washington University which won in their respective categories. Prizes included college scholarship worth $1,000 by solar cell producer REC Silicon.

[Source: MSNBC]