Get your science nerd on! The world just changed.

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10-04-2006, 05:50 AM
Paro

Get your science nerd on! The world just changed.

Quick background - there are two principal types of solar cell in common use.

Crystalline solar cells are highly efficent but are expensive because of the energy and special equipment needed to make crystalline silicon wafers.

Amorphous silicon cells use cheaper noncrystalline silicon but the drawback is these cells are far less efficient than crystalline cells.

Now a reseacher at Los Alasmo has found out how to cheaply deposit a layer of crystalline silicon on an amorphous silicon base prducing cells almost as efficient as crystalline silicon cells at a much lower cost.

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com...543? id=45919

http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/tt/pdf/tech...u%20silicon%22

If this process works as advertised, solar power probably just got as cheap as natural gas and wind power.
10-04-2006, 06:18 AM
Xaven

That's just fantastic.

...Maybe I'll install solar panels on my roof like my neighboor. >:D
10-04-2006, 07:51 AM
Leeza

That would be great, but somehow I think they'll figure out how to make it just as expensive, if not more so.
10-04-2006, 02:18 PM
Captain Maxx Power

It'd be fine if it wasn't always so overcast around here.
10-05-2006, 12:38 AM
sephirothishere

well...methane hydrate or nuclear fusion seems like the way to go.....
10-05-2006, 12:53 AM
Fire_Emblem776

Quote:

Originally Posted by sephirothishere

well...methane hydrate or nuclear fusion seems like the way to go.....

No Nuclear power, i dont trust them.
10-05-2006, 06:53 AM
Rainecloud

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leeza

That would be great, but somehow I think they'll figure out how to make it just as expensive, if not more so.

Heh. For some unknown reason, that always seems to happen. The Government will find a cheaper way to produce something that's in demand, and then find a way to make it unaffordable for the majority of the earth's inhabitants.

:/
10-05-2006, 08:58 AM
Madame Adequate

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rainecloud

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leeza

That would be great, but somehow I think they'll figure out how to make it just as expensive, if not more so.

Heh. For some unknown reason, that always seems to happen. The Government will find a cheaper way to produce something that's in demand, and then find a way to make it unaffordable for the majority of the earth's inhabitants.

:/

Nah, that's not the products themselves they do that with, it's because protectionism and tarriffs and whatnot make it really hard for people around the world to earn even the small amounts of money needed to buy such things.
10-05-2006, 10:59 AM
o_O

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fire_Emblem776

Quote:

Originally Posted by sephirothishere

well...methane hydrate or nuclear fusion seems like the way to go.....

No Nuclear power, i dont trust them.

Why not? There have only ever been two major disaster in the field of nuclear power, and that was the result of poorly built reactors.
What most people don't realise is that there have been plenty of large scale accidents in regular power plants. Granted, that statistic is largely useless because there are so few nuclear power plants compared to ones that burn fossil fuels.

Nuclear energy is sustainable and much more efficient than fossil fuel power, and it releases far less greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

I don't think solar power is a feasable source of energy - not behind our atmosphere, anyway. The solar cells will need to be so efficient it likely won't be cost-effective enough to use as a primary power source.
10-05-2006, 11:25 PM
sephirothishere

Quote:

No Nuclear power, i dont trust them.

i thought nuclear fusion was virthually infinite and hassle free though...cuz they combine light element sto make stronger ones....what sthat electricity thing theyre doin in france???anybody know???its like somthin to do with hydrogen or somthin....
10-05-2006, 11:35 PM
Shoeberto

Face took my response. Really, if anything, we're putting ourselves into a hole by not adopting a nuclear energy program, and it's because of poorly informed people who get paranoid and think nuclear power=the next Hiroshima in UR HOME TOWNNNNN. Which is terribly naive. Actually, I believe a nuclear plant was to be built in a town not far from here, and had gotten a good way into its construction when the townspeople freaked and ordered it shut down. Now a perfectly good dome is being used to store roadsalt for when it gets icy. Whoo.