Friday, March 02, 2007

Eye On The Prize.

Thin-film Solar cells.  That's the place to be... in about 5 years. Right now solar power is just cool, but its going to get better.  To compete with fossil fuels it needs to get past the $1 per watt point, but right now its about 4 times that much and not very arousing to a solely fiscal analysis.  That doesn't mean that other catalysts can't drive projects, as you can see with Google's and San Diego's solar projects.

Filsom, a Swiss Firm Solar Cell Firm, projects that in 5 years solar will be marginally cheaper than fossil fuels.  And after another 5 years it'll be half as costly.  Thin-film is a new process that prints solar collectors onto a flexible backing that can be placed on many more surfaces than traditional technology.  Imagine every rooftop you see providing the power for everything underneath it.  And with thin-film, the sides and windows of the buildings can contribute too.  So alternative power doesn't have to be about endless fields of mirrors and collectors.  We can just repurpose some of the impervious surfaces that just radiate solar collection.  Win-freaking-win.

1 comment:

Kirk said...

win - win until some douche bag fat cats figure out a way to crash that party.

i'm so dissolutioned now. we cant have anything cool because some fucker has to make money off it.

sorry to piss in your cornflakes.
until i get more juice this glass is gonna be half empty.