Until now, the primary market for this type of solar cell has been
for
use by satellites. The addition of a low cost germanium substrate to
the
conventional "gallium indium phosphide on gallium arsenide" design,
plus
inexpensive mirrors to concentrate the sunlight on the cells may
open the door for affordable mass production for use on earth. Whether
the Hughes Electronics and the DOE's collaberation actually
bears
affordable fruit remains to be seen. We can only hope its potential is
realized.
Otherwise we may have to look to other energy sources. Such as
fermenting
waste parts of plants to make ethanol for fuel.
FUEL FROM FERMENTING PLANTS AND PLANT WASTES
Biomass to make ethanol - does it use more energy than it creates?
July 29, 1999 - The 'vision' of Americas Department Of Energy
is "Growing Energy to Power America" - helping develop and grow a
domestic biomass industry to produce not just power, but fuels and
chemicals
from crop residues, trees and biological waste.
A stated goal is to make a "ton of biomass"produce the equivalent value of a barrel of imported oil. A bill has been introduced to set aside $300 million over six years for bioenergy research and development. The benefits the bills proponents are touting are-
Nov. 10, 1999 - The USA Department Of Energys (DOE) 'National
Renewable
Energy Laboratory' (NREL) has signed an agreement with a
Californian
Business - which plans to ferment waste rice straw to produce ethanol -
to license the use of the NREL's patented strains of bacteria. These
genetically
engineered organisms (Zymomonas mobilis) ferment not just the 6
carbon sugar glucose, the norm for most 'biocatalysts' as these
fermentation
organisms are known, but also simultaneously ferment 5 carbon sugars.
This
added capability expands the amount of biomass that the organism can
break
down to ethanol -by 'up to' 40% more, in fact. The pilot production
plant
will be based in Sacremento, California.
STEAM
When the oil is very expensive, and finally effectively runs out, its
most likely back to steam for most of us. But steam in the age of
technology.
Steam bicycles will be back folks, but high-tech steam bikes!
Steam is back - but clean this time
11 November 1999- "Australian scientists have perfected a new-age
combustion
technology, which is poised to clean up greenhouse gas emissions, slash
energy costs and significantly boost productivity." says the media
release.
What have the aussies done? Invented a way of 'pulsing' flames with
sound waves to burn fuel highly efficiently, creating high
temperatures,
but with low fuel consumption. And best of all, the noxious gas
emission
levels are far below the strictest environmental standards. According
to
the researchers, "zero levels of total hydrocarbon (THC) and
carbon
monoxide (CO) are attainable."
The specially configured burning chamber helps the fuel 'burn twice',
the sound waves create their own aspiration of air, so fans aren't
required,
and the vibration helps the combustion chamber to be self cleaning.
The current thinking is that it is ideal for industrial boilers and
steel foundries. But it wouldn't take much to harness the concept to
new
generation steam locomotives, or, once miniaturised, the old steam
bicycle....
ANIMAL POWER
One way to save money is not to spend it.
One way to save energy is not to spend it unwisely. This is perhaps
a little oblique to the issue, but the present farmland 'bean and
grain'
based agriculture uses more oil calories than the calory value of
the food it produces!
Grassland farming, on the other hand, produces an energy 'surplus'
over each calory of oil burned in production.
The USDA estimates: