|
Posted Jun 22, 2013, 5:55 PM
|
BANNED
|
|
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: lodged against an abutment
Posts: 7,556
|
|
Quote:
New York passes solar bill that could add 2.2GW by 2023
By Felicity Carus - 21 June 2013, 18:36
In News, Power Generation
New York state legislators yesterday gave their resounding approval to a solar bill that could see 2,200 MW of new installations by 2023.
The New York Solar Bill (A.5060b/S.2522) was passed by the state Assembly by 76 to 16 votes and would enact Governor Andrew Cuomo's 10-year solar programme proposed earlier this year, building on the success of the NY-Sun Initiative, a public-private partnership designed to drive growth in the state’s solar industry and lower solar costs.
Solar has gained increasing attention from state lawmakers following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, which exposed New York’s energy infrastructure as grossly outdated and unable to weather the effects of climate change.
|
http://www.pv-tech.org/news/new_york..._2.2gw_by_2023
Quote:
Chile on track for 6 GW of solar projects
21. June 2013 | Global PV markets, Industry & Suppliers, Markets & Trends | By: Blanca Díaz/Edgar Meza
Development of solar power projects are Chile has increased dramatically in recent months. The country’s Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) has already approved 4 GW of new projects with an additional 2.2 GW currently under review.
Chile has seen a rapid rise in the development of new solar power projects in recent months. The country's Environmental Evaluation Service (SEA) has already approved 4 GW of new projects and is currently reviewing an additional 2.2 GW, according to a report by published on June 19 by Chile’s Center for Renewable Energy.
While a large number of major projects are set go online in the coming months, Chile's capacity from operational facilities currently totals only 3.5 MW. However, solar plants with a total capacity of 69 MW are currently under construction and the SEA has approved an additional 4 GW of projects which have yet to be built. A further 2.2 GW are under review.
|
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/deta...cts_100011804/
Quote:
A cheaper drive to 'cool' fuels
UD scientists pioneer inexpensive catalyst to drive synthetic fuel production
1:29 p.m., June 20, 2013--University of Delaware chemist Joel Rosenthal is driven to succeed in the renewable energy arena.
Working in his lab in UD’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Rosenthal and doctoral student John DiMeglio have developed an inexpensive catalyst that uses the electricity generated from solar energy to convert carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, into synthetic fuels for powering cars, homes and businesses.
The research is published in the June 19 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Gold and silver represent the “gold standard” in the world of electrocatalysts for conversion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide. But Rosenthal and his research team have pioneered the development of a much cheaper alternative to these pricey, precious metals. It’s bismuth, a silvery metal with a pink hue that’s a key ingredient in Pepto-Bismol, the famous pink elixir for settling an upset stomach.
An ounce of bismuth is 50 to 100 times cheaper than an ounce of silver, and 2,000 times cheaper than an ounce of gold, Rosenthal says. Bismuth is more plentiful than gold and silver, it is well distributed globally and is a byproduct in the refining of lead, tin and copper.
Moreover, Rosenthal says his UD-patented catalyst offers other important advantages: selectivity and efficiency in converting carbon dioxide to fuel.
“Most catalysts do not selectively make one compound when combined with carbon dioxide — they make a whole slew,” Rosenthal explains. “Our goal was to develop a catalyst that was extremely selective in producing carbon monoxide and to power the reaction using solar energy.”
Many of us hear ‘”carbon monoxide” and think “poison.”
“It’s true that you do not want to be in a closed room with carbon monoxide,” Rosenthal says. “But carbon monoxide is very valuable as a commodity chemical because it’s extremely energy rich and has many uses.”
|
http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2013/jun/...el-062013.html
Quote:
DNA constructs antenna for solar energy
Published Wed 19 Jun 2013
PRESS RELEASE: Researchers at Chalmers have found an effective solution for collecting sunlight for artificial photosynthesis. By combining self-assembling DNA molecules with simple dye molecules, the researchers have created a system that resembles nature's own antenna system.
Artificial photosynthesis is one of the hot trends in energy research. A large number of the worlds' energy problems could be resolved if it were possible to recreate the ability plants have to transform solar energy into fuel. The Earth receives enough solar energy every hour to satisfy our energy needs for an entire year.
A research team at Chalmers University of Technology has made a nanotechnological breakthrough in the first step required for artificial photosynthesis. The team has demonstrated that it is possible to use self-assembling DNA molecules as scaffolding to create artificial systems that collect light. The results were recently published in the esteemed scientific Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Self-assembling system
Scaffolding in plants and algae consists of a large number of proteins that organise chlorophyll molecules to ensure effective light collection. The system is complicated and would basically be impossible to construct artificially.
"It's all over if a bond breaks," says Jonas Hannestad, PhD of physical chemistry. "If DNA is used instead to organise the light-collecting molecules, the same precision is not achieved but a dynamic self-constructing system arises."
|
http://www.chalmers.se/en/news/Pages...ar-energy.aspx
Quote:
2013/06/21
Uncovering Nature’s Quantum Secret in Science
Researchers in group led by Prof Niek van Hulst observe the quantum character of light transport in photosynthesis.
Photosynthetic organisms, such as plants and some bacteria can whisk away 95 percent of the sunlight they absorb in less than a couple of trillionths of a second to drive the metabolic reactions that provide them with energy. Various research groups around the world have found indications that this highly efficient energy transport is connected to a quantum-mechanical phenomenon. However, until now, no one had directly observed the possible impacts of such a quantum transport mechanism at work at room temperature.
In an article published in Science, researchers from the group led by ICREA Professor at ICFO Niek van Hulst, in collaboration with biochemists from the University of Glasgow, have been able to show for the first time at ambient conditions that the quantum mechanisms of energy transfer do make photosynthesis more robust in the face of environmental influences. Quantum coherence is manifested in so-called photosynthetic antenna proteins that are responsible for absorption of sunlight and energy transport towards the photochemical reaction centers where the energy is stored.
In order to observe this process, researchers send ultrafast femtosecond light flashes to capture a high-speed series of ‘pictures’ of the states of individual antenna proteins after light absorption. With these "snapshots", they are able to understand how solar energy is transported through single proteins and observe how energy flows through sunlight absorbing photosynthetic systems with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution.
|
http://www.icfo.eu/newsroom/news2.ph...ubsection=home
Quote:
What Tech Is Next for the Solar Industry?
Solar manufacturers are eager to implement several new technologies that could make solar power cheaper, and the panels easier to make.
By Kevin Bullis on June 21, 2013
Solar panel installations continue to grow quickly, but the solar panel manufacturing industry is in the doldrums because supply far exceeds demand (see “Why We Need More Solar Companies to Fail”). The poor market may be slowing innovation, but advances continue; judging by the mood this week at the IEEE Photovoltaics Specialists Conference in Tampa, Florida, people in the industry remain optimistic about its long-term prospects.
The technology that’s surprised almost everyone is conventional crystalline silicon. A few years ago, silicon solar panels cost $4 per watt, and Martin Green, professor at the University of New South Wales and one of the leading silicon solar panel researchers, declared that they’d never go below $1 a watt. “Now it’s down to something like 50 cents of watt, and there’s talk of hitting 36 cents per watt,” he says.
The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal of reaching less than $1 a watt—not just for the solar panels, but for complete, installed systems—by 2020 (see “Why Solar Installations Cost More in the U.S. than in Germany”). Green thinks the solar industry will hit that target even sooner than that. If so, that would bring the direct cost of solar power to six cents per kilowatt-hour, which is cheaper than the average cost expected for power from new natural gas power plants. (The total cost of solar power, which includes the cost to utilities to compensate for its intermittency, would be higher, though precisely how much higher will depend on how much solar power is on the grid, and other factors.)
|
http://www.technologyreview.com/news...olar-industry/
|
|
|