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[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 13, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Saturday, November 13th, 2010Thanks to recent work at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory, someday soon even your windows may be solar collectors.
We recently touched on a brilliant idea involving turning the world’s highways into solar collectors, but what if you could turn virtually anything into a solar collector, just by covering it with a thin transparent film? That’s just one crazy idea that may soon be possible because of recent research at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Working with a semiconducting polymer spiked with Fullerenes, the scientists were able to create a thin film that is effectively transparent, could efficiently generate charge and charge separation, and is scalable to industrial production levels. Existing transparent photovoltaic materials are either slightly tinted like PVGlaze architectural glass, or only partially transparent like Taiyo See-through Solar. In the latter case because the material is created with laser etching that alternates the photovoltaic material with a truly transparent material. The real innovation with the Los Alamos project lies in the fact that the material is fabricated by creating a micron-sized flow of water droplets across a thin layer of the polymer-fullerene solution, which then evaporates, leaving a nano-scale honeycomb pattern that could efficiently absorb light and facilitate electrical conductivity. A material like this could greatly enhance ideas like this Italian greenhouse project that both grows food and collects solar power. Or imagine if the material evolved to a point where it could be applied to existing buildings without significantly changing their appearance. Although there are already a lot of strategies out there for building-integrated photovoltaics , including the possibility of photovoltaic “paint”, this new technology may make even more crazy ideas possible. Imagine if you could solarize your house just buy spraying it with a transparent film…
Gulf Oil Spill Weather Report
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on October 31, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Sunday, October 31st, 2010The forecast calls for widely scattered blamestorming, with high-pressure greenwashing continuing through 2050.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the only global media operation that’s covering the tragic aftermath of BP’s use of toxic dispersants is Al Jazeera. In spite of local news reports of illness from the chemicals as early as May, 2010, mainstream American media sources like MSNBC assured us back in August that the 1.8 million gallons of toxic dispersants dumped in the gulf were less toxic than the oil itself. And there’s not a lot of incentive to dig into this story, when BP and the NOAA have partnered for a propaganda campaign aimed at middle schoolers, in which they use cooking oil and detergent to show how safe the use of dispersants was. I’m no scientist, but detergent seems like a poor analogy for a chemical that causes heart trouble, organ damage, and rectal bleeding . And while major news sources like the WSJ were questioning the cleanup figures back in August, most media sources have since gone silent on the topic, except to acknowledge that Greenpeace is still looking into things. Or to talk about the Halliburton Blamestorm about the concrete used in the well. In fact, they’re telling us things are fine. Eat the fish. The fish that have been swimming in the water that just months ago would explode in the lab when tested for toxicity. Read the rest of this entry »
The Impending Global Shortage Surplus
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on October 17, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Sunday, October 17th, 2010Don’t worry, there are plenty of shortages for everyone!
 America even seems to be experiencing a “fitness shortage” |
There are times in big business when the marketing and product people should talk more with the engineers and scientists. I think this was true recently when companies like Apple and Research In Motion started pumping their mobile devices. As you may know, as a result of the explosive growth of this market, we’re now rapidly running out of the materials used in their manufacture, with China kind of cornering the market on them. The shortage of these materials should come as no surprise though; they are after all called (ahem) rare earth minerals. But since we also seem to have a shortage of common sense in America, this allows crafty neo-cons to point out that we’re now plagued with what could be called a “shortage deficit”. Meaning if those dirty liberals hadn’t put so many restrictions on mining these materials, WE could be running out of them instead of the Chinese. What these incessantly politicizing wingnuts fail to mention is that China is running out of water too. This will make it hard for the Chinese to capitalize on this shortage deficit for very long; it is after all harder to put the squeeze on anybody if you’re DYING OF THIRST. Besides, if you take a larger view, it quickly becomes apparent we’re running out of just about everything. We’re running out of oil, gold and silver, we’re running out of farm laborers (which is weird, because we’re not running out of people looking for jobs), we’re running out of drugs (at least the legal ones, the illegal ones are thriving), we’re running out of food…why, we’re even running out of internet addresses. Speaking of running out of food, the fact that we’re running out of tuna and red snapper (bet you didn’t know oil rigs were such a crucial part of the ecosystem, did you!) is probably a blessing since – as we mentioned – we’re running out of water to keep them in. Given the continued bailing out of the failed banking industry and the floundering global economy, I imagine that after years of being on the road to recovery, we’ll be running out of trees again to print all the cash needed to keep the party going. Ultimately though, I think what we’re shortest on is common sense, compassion, and patience.
What If America’s Highways Were One Big Solar Panel?
[ 4 Comments ]Posted on September 23, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010Solar Roadways has an idea that could solve several of America’s energy and infrastructure problems at once, and revolutionize energy and transportation.
Okay. So you’re not quite ready to give up your gas guzzling FUV for some pansy little electric just yet. So how about we make the ROADS electric? That’s the rather brilliant idea behind Solar Roadways’ “Intelligent Highway” prototype (video below). The basic idea is that we have 2.73 million miles of paved road in America that just sits there getting driven on. So why not make it a solar grid? We’d produce three times more energy than the country needs, and since the roads go everywhere, including right to your house, why not deliver the electricity intelligently throughout the grid too, eliminating the need for much of the country’s hardwired power distribution? With the erratically skyrocketing costs of asphalt, this idea seems like a no-brainer. Solar Roadways’ highway would be built with – get this – glass, and utilize all sorts of extra features including built-in LED’s that can display virtually any message you like. Personally I think even if the material were quite a bit “dumber”, and only collected and distributed electricity, this would be a brilliant plan for America’s infrastructure. Although there’s a little irony in the fact that much like petroleum, one of the plan’s central materials is plentiful in Saudi Arabia. Down the road we may lament our dependence on foreign sand. But seriously. This is GENIUS. Why hasn’t it gotten more press? Consider giving them a vote to help them get funding from GE. Read the rest of this entry »
Big Oil’s Proposition 23: Don’t Blow This One, California
[ Comments Off ]Posted on September 21, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010Hey California, even if YOU don’t care, think about the rest of us. We’re downwind you know. We want to see the sunshine while we build our poop-powered cars made of hemp.
Don’t do it California. Don’t let this Proposition 23 thing go through. I feel odd throwing in my two cents, because I’m not a resident so I can’t even vote on it, but you’ve proven your obliviousness to your own well-being before, so I feel it’s my civic duty to address the issue, even if I do live three thousand miles away. Maybe you’ll be more self-interested on this one if enough outsiders rant about it. If you’re not aware of what Proposition 23 is about, here’s the nutshell version: two Texas oil companies – Tesoro Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. – are spending over $100 million dollars to try to roll back California’s visionary emissions reduction plans, which were intended to limit California’s pollution levels in 2020 to what they were in 1990. The energy companies’ justification? They claim that the emission control legislation has caused California’s double-digit unemployment. Even if this were true – and it isn’t; there are plenty of states with double-digit unemployment that don’t have forward-thinking emission control legislation – what kind of effed up logic is THAT? “Honey, I know it’s sad that the kids can’t play outside today for fear of being asphyxiated by the sooty, mustard brown air, but at least we have JOBS…” C’mon California, get it together. Don’t let a bunch of rich, fossil-fuel Texans tell you how to run your state. Use your unemployment as inspiration to INNOVATE. And even if you don’t care enough about your own state to act on this, think about the rest of us. Your air blows our way a lot. We want to be able to see the sunshine while we build our poop-powered cars made of hemp.