News From the World of 'Alternative' Energy

At some point, I think solar and wind power will not be considered “alternative.’ But for the moment …

Cheap “Popcorn Ball” Solar Cells Set Efficiency Record
A record for this type of cell, though — not for photovoltaics in general.

This efficiency is only about half that of traditional silicon solar cells found on roof tops and calculators but with the lower price its is enough to stay competitive with the silicon cells.

The technology that will save humanity
Of course, solar thermal does have the drawback of needing a certain amount of real estate. Rooftop photovoltaic panel systems are probably going to help “save humanity” as well.

Big oil to big wind: Texas veteran sets up $10bn clean energy project

Over the next four years he intends to erect 2,700 turbines across 200,000 acres of the Texan panhandle. The scheme is five times bigger than the world’s current record-holding wind farm and when finished will supply 4,000 megawatts of electricity – enough to power about one million homes.

Biodiesel Mythbuster 2.0: Twenty-Two Biodiesel Myths Dispelled

MYTH #22: Biodiesel is only used by crazy hippies and Willie Nelson.

FACT: Tell that to the US military, especially the US Navy (which is the largest single user of biodiesel), the National Parks Service, Postal Service, NASA, municipalities across the country, and more than 130 school districts and universities.

OK, but you’d be surprised at the number of crazy hippies in the US military. Very surprised

2 thoughts on “News From the World of 'Alternative' Energy

  1. Pingback: » News From the World of ‘Alternative’ Energy

  2. so, there’s probably on the order of 100 million homes in the US? That means we would need 20 million acres to power them all by wind power. The texas panhandle is about 16 million acres… so it’s a start. 😀

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