Cost to produce these solar coatings is a mere 30 cents per watt!

[Wcross]

This is HUGE for people considering alternative energy in the future. At that cost it is cheaper than COAL!

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/24430
http://www.nanosolar.com/

Nanosolar coatings are as thin as a layer of paint and can transfer sunlight into power quite efficiently. Imagine the possibilities, from solar coated shingles to solar lined windows to solar powered cell phones and ipods. Solar powered buildings and homes might just become standard in the future thanks to this innovative technology by Nanosolar Inc. The almighty dollar will launch these thin-film solar cells into worldwide applications thanks to the fact that it's actually cheaper than burning coal.


On a side note; If you are considering alternative energy I highly recommend Homepower magazine. Very informative.
http://www.homepower.com/

[magellan]

1. We read about these in either SciAm or PopularSci this month

It's an incredible breakthrough. Nanosolar are so backed up with orders they're building more factories. One of their first jobs is to provide solar roofing for 100,000 homes in CA as part of an initiative by Schwarzenegger.

[Wcross]

3. If Nanosolar produces as promised it is going to change the world.

Thank you California for taking the leap! Thanks Arnold, despite your political affiliations you did the right thing!

[magellan]

5. Wouldn't you love to get your hands on a few rolls of this stuff?

We're in FL and would go solar in a heartbeat if we could afford it. Nanosolar have just made that possible in the not too distant future.

[aquart]

4. 100,000 is pretty much insignificant.

The government is clearly not behind this. Too busy giving contracts to Blackwater and Halliburton to distribute largesse where it might do some good.

[Wcross]

6. 100,000 is a start. The longest journey starts with the first step. n/t

[aquart]

7. Yes.

But baby steps are too little too late. We need a war mobilization to bring this nation into the new millennium with a realization that things are different so we have to DO different things. I'd rather my gov't spend a fortune to bring solar power to ever American home than pay another dime for war.

[magellan]

8. Absolutely, it's shameful

The UK is rolling out domestic solar, for crying out loud, and they ain't exactly the sunniest spot in the world. How stupid and backward does that make the US look? Par for the course with BushCo in the driver's seat.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. There's no meaningful 'roll out' of domestic solar power in the UK

If 100,000 homes in CA are going to get solar panels, that's far more than the UK has managed. For instance:

Damien Hirst is breathing fresh life into the renewable energy industry by ordering the country's second largest solar power system. Hirst is to spend up to £1.5m on a 310kw solar power system for his studio buildings in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

Only the Cooperative Insurance Society Tower in Manchester has a bigger system. Hirst's solar panels will generate enough electricity to power up to 150 homes, and it is not clear whether it will feed into the national grid.
...
Such is the small scale of solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment in Britain that Hirst's system will account for around 2% of the total 12 megawatt peak capacity in Britain. Germany has 200 times as much.

Environmentalists were cheered by the news. Dave Timms, economics campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: "This is great news. Good on Damien Hirst. He'll probably do more to boost confidence in the UK solar industry than the government has over the past few years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/19/solarpower.energy

At the 2kW/home rate the article uses, 100,000 Calfornian homes would be 200MW - 16 time the entire British capacity.

[magellan]

31. I'm sorry to hear this

My husband and I had read about the Major PV Programme the DTI is running with the Energy Saving Trust and assumed this meant big moves over there towards solar. I'm sorry to hear it isn't so, but it's not very surprising.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. There's a fair amount of talk, but not much has happened yet

As you say, the UK isn't where you'd expect a lot of work on solar power. Wind power has done a bit better (not as well as in Denmark, though, or Germany, I think) and offshore wind power may become big in the UK - there's a lot of coastline for the size, after all, and offshore wind is more reliable than inland, which is a bonus - but the government is always great at the PR, less good at the execution of a strategy.

[Solar_Power]

38. If we spent $1 trillion on green power instead of this senseless war

we'd be energy independent in 10 years

[flvegan]

39. delete, wrong place

sorry

[Uncle Joe]

2. This sounds very promising,

thanks for the thread Wcross.

Kicked and recommended.

[Joe Fields]

9. K&R! I saw something about this on television the other day.

No more cumbersome, expensive solar panels. This stuff can be applied as a super thin film to windows. I also saw where it can be blended into paint.

[Gregorian]

10. Great post. Nanosolar should be offering to the public next year.

And Homepower magazine is one of the established publications on this subject.

I am now at the crossroads of whether to bring the power company onto a property, or go solar. I'm probably going be forced to go with the power company because the rebates and tax breaks apply to grid-tied systems. That means that if you are not tied to the grid, you pay the price of the system without any help from the fed, state, or CEC. I'm still following up on that with someone, but I am nearly certain it's the case.

Another thing to take into consideration, if you are thinking of solar, is that the rebates are ratcheting down as milestones are reached. With every million installations, they are slowly decreasing the incentives.

I have tried communicating with Nanosolar, but they're almost completely closed off. In fact, their front door is locked. They are not even discussing their offerings to the public. I've emailed, and had no reply.

I predict that in the not too distant future, the grid is going to be comprised of individuals pumping their current into the system via home based generation. And that our centralized power companies will slowly phase out nonrenewables. It's just a guess.

[Wcross]

11. Unfortunately homeowners will need battery banks.

You would need homeowners to install battery storage to get them through the evening hours. It would be impractical to have a central battery bank at a substation. I don't think we will get away from non-renewable energy any time soon considering the demands from industry. At some point though we may be able to shut down natural gas & coal generation.

[Gregorian]

12. Oh yeah. That little detail.

I keep forgetting about night time. There is no doubt that battery technology is critical. I'm just not willing to have tons of lead acid batteries to deal with.

Thanks for keeping me straight on this. The reality is our lifestyles are going to take a big hit. We've been living like kings for a long time. Way beyond the planet's means.

[Wcross]

16. The bank wouldn't need to be too big if you use power management.

You would just have to realize when the most efficient times to do certain things would be. If you go with passive solar water heat, geothermal heating & cooling & keep the night time power use reasonable it shouldn't be a deal breaker to install some deep cell batteries.
Just look at the average refrigerator. If you bought a chest type none of the cool air would spill out on the floor when you open it like it does with front door models.

[Gregorian]

20. There are many schemes.

I took an advanced course in passive solar back in my engineering school. That was around 1990. The prof was the guy who wrote the Calres software they use for doing energy calcs on new structures. It was quite fun.

But the reality is, three wires coming onto the property is one hell of a lot simpler than the work required to design passive systems.

I'm just starting to break ground on a place. And I'd love to do it properly. But I'm essentially broke. I put my life savings into a piece of dirt. Soon there won't be an alternative. The cost of fuel is never coming back down.

Also, I have a machine shop and welding and big lighting. So it could be enormously expensive for me to go solar. But I will.

One thing I've noticed is that many people on solar are running their hot water off of gas. The systems for heating water are far from affordable, still.

Exciting times.

I've always thought that we could just lift a big block of concrete. Use that as the battery. Let it fall at night, or during off hours.

[DLnyc]

23. Perhaps simpler: Pump water up into a tank during the day, to run a

a dynamo during the night.

This would work better, I guess, on a 'neighborhood' scale: pump the water up into a watertank on top of a tower.

[dysfunctional press]

25. how about compressed air?

same principle- run a compressor during the day, use the air at night to power a turbine/generator.

you'd need tanks, but no water and no tower.

[Gregorian]

28. Nope. Air is compressible.

It heats up and cools down during the process, losing energy. It could be done, but it's not as simple as water. After all, that's kind of what a turbocharger does. And for example, a turbo works better with an intercooler. The reason being, it heats up the air. They want to get rid of the heat to lessen preignition.


Actually, I know a group of people who are currently preparing to start their own town. One of their criteria for the location (4000 acres) was they have a watercourse. Their plan is to pump water up during the day, and use it when they need it for power.

[SnowGoose]

14. There are people working on using hybrid cars for the battery

I saw an article about it a while back ~ plans for turning your Prius into an emergency generator to power a few things in your house. Eventually, cars with batteries will be the rule rather than the exception, and they will be able to serve as a kind of on-demand capacitor during spikes in demand.

There's a lot of potential on the horizon, if we would just stop wasting our wealth and resources on shipwrecks like warfare and joyless consumerism.

[Gregorian]

18. Ha, I was just talking to someone about doing this a few minutes ago.

Things are moving quickly. I can't even come up with an original idea. I was mentioning that I ought to keep an eye out for a wrecked hybrid.

Lots of stuff happening very rapidly now. The heat is on.

[IDemo]

22. Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G)

http://www.acpropulsion.com/technology/v2g.htm

[BornagainDUer]

15. That's were a power company buyback plan needs to be put in place.

I don't know much about it, but I've heard that some people actually generate enough electricity from renewables that they get a refund instead of a bill.

[Wcross]

17. A place not far from me generates hydro power from an old mill dam.

It was up for sale last year and the guy wanted a million dollars for it. 11 acres, two buildings & the dam. It was over priced but he did generate power he sold back to the power company. He never paid for the power he used after his initial investment in equipment. Unfortunately it was on the main road into the county seat, lots of high speed traffic and not a good place to live.

My dream would be a combination hydro/wind/solar system although the only option on my current property is solar. I really hope the nanosolar company can deliver.

[Gregorian]

19. Here's something I was looking at last night.

http://www.solarwarrior.com/

[jpak]

30. Most states allow net metering where home PV systems are tied to the grid

and excess solar electricity is sold to utilities.

no batteries needed

[dysfunctional press]

24. the rebates ar going away completely, aren't they?

pelosi and reid decided not to renew them for renwable energy sources, iirc.

[Gregorian]

34. They're ratcheting down, at the very least.

I don't know about the elimination by Congress. But we're rapidly approaching the milestones whereby the power companies will be dropping incentives.

But it's ok since the prices of the systems will be going down as demand goes skyrocketing.

The $200 per barrel oil is not far away. And demand for photovoltaic is only going up.

Crisis. Oh well...

[dysfunctional press]

37. my wife and i are going to be doing an addition in the spring...

and we've looked into doing a solar electric conversion- but it just isn't feasible for us at this time...although we will probaly do a solar hot water system, and we may switch to a geothermal heat pump.

photovoltaic still has to get cheaper and more efficient...hopefully these kinds of breakthroughs will make that possible.

[Kansas Wyatt]

13. Meanwhile, back at Big Energy Industries Headquarters.....

They are working on a plan to sack this idea by linking it to lead paint from Communist Red China, that spontaneously ignites, with full fledged Liberal Democrat backing.

[quiet.american]

21. Looking forward to when they go public! nt

[malaise]

27. Thanks for the links

K & R

[Alexander]

29. I live in Phoenix. These things should be covering every building and sidewalk here.

The only reason they aren't is because the people who plan this city aren't bright or considerate enough to enact such a plan.

And that goes for both Democrats and Republicans. They both make millions off real estate and neither party has any particular desire to stop now.

[Solar_Power]

33. This will take CA's Million Solar Roofs to a new level

http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/energy/million-solar-roofs

[Wcross]

35. I like your "Handle"!

It is incredibly stupid to ignore this very viable source of power.

[Solar_Power]

36. Well, up to now, solar energy was not competitive

This might be the breakthrough that we need.

[flvegan]

40. Nanosolar has raised $100 million in funding.

That's awesome.

I've been setting money aside since I bought my place here. It has awesome morning and afternoon exposure and my roof will be perfect.

[Solar_Power]

41. Grand Hyatt Dubai Opts for Solar Power

/medium

he Grand Hyatt Dubai has converted its main water heating system from diesel oil-fired to solar powered in a bid to reduce climate change and running costs. With the UAE’s carbon footprint spiraling, causing the country to be one of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide per capita in the world, the Grand Hyatt Dubai’s new solar panel heating system will reduce its own emissions dramatically.

“This is the first commercial installation of its kind in the U.A.E., and probably the largest in the whole of Europe, the Middle East and Africa,” says Phil Barnett, Grand Hyatt Dubai’s director of engineering.

The solar panels are installed on the roof of the Grand Cineplex, with each solar panel producing up to a kilowatt of energy each per hour. The plant as a whole will produce 800 to 1,000 kilowatts of energy per hour.

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/25111