Anybody have any updates on the nano-solar electric tech or LEDs?

[mraaron]

   Here is a shot of the light at full power.   There is a small rechargeable battery inside.  Don't let it freeze and it should last awhile.

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[mvpel]

They make white LED lightbulbs that are screw-in replacements for standard 120V light bulbs.  I bought three of them after I got tired of the 40W light bulbs melting or cooking any nearby food if the refrigerator door didn't close all the way.

The light is very cool, with a blue cast, much like fluorescents.  A key advantage is they don't peter out in cold weather like fluorescents, which was a key consideration for my freezer light bulb.

http://www.theledlight.com/120-VAC-LEDbulbs.html

They also have outdoor spot and flood lights.  The prices have improved SIGNIFICANTLY in the past year, to the tune of about HALF  ...and looking further down the page it looks like they've also come up with warm white (3500 Kelvin) LED lights.

However, their lumen figures seem to be inflated - incandescents typically give 17-20 lumens per watt.

[tracysaboe]

Well, it's been about half a year. Just wondered if any of you energy efficiency geeks had been following these technologies and if you've got any new news from off the tops of your heads.



Tracy

[mvpel]

The latest Popular Mechanics (May 2007) has a review of the newer compact fluorescents, and their best-rated N:Vision bulbs are the ones that Home Depot is selling.  The soft white technology seems to have improved considerably, with color temperatures very close to incandescent. Their tested Sylvania 75 watt incandescent gives off a measured 2736K and 975 lux, while the N:Vision was 2845K and 925 lux.

Caren actually wound up pestering me to get the new bulb we bought installed in a particular lamp when I'd already put it in, it was that indistinguishable from incandescent.  It's a huge improvement over the bluish cast of most CF bulbs we'd tried before.

With the PM article in hand, we bought a batch of CF bulbs last weekend, including eight 9-watt decorative globe bulbs for the bathroom fixture.  A total of 72 watts versus 320 watts for equivalent incandescents.  I also replaced three 75 watt bulbs in a hallway fixture with three 14 watt, for a 183 watt savings, and another three in the library for a 78-watt savings.

Based on the package claims, they're also much better at starting in cold temperatures.

The NH electric utilities are giving up to $6 instant rebates on CF bulbs, you just have to fill out a form with your electric billing address for each buck, a dollar a package.  They seemed to be moving quite a lot of packages, and they were pushing them in the newspaper inserts as well.

The cynic in me, though, is anticipating the "MERCURY CRISIS!!! MORE GOVERNMENT NEEDED!!!" headlines in 7-10 years when these bulbs wear out and start entering the trash stream.  The mercury is being diverted from the power plant smokestacks into our light sockets.

[Dreepa]

The cynic in me, though, is anticipating the "MERCURY CRISIS!!! MORE GOVERNMENT NEEDED!!!" headlines in 7-10 years when these bulbs wear out and start entering the trash stream.  The mercury is being diverted from the power plant smokestacks into our light sockets.

Agreed.. however you might want to talk to the people at your town dump.
We requested a special bin for these bulbs and they will be disposed of by themselves.
Start now and people will get in the habit of doing it now.  Because the trash in my town ends up in a power plant smokestack.

[mvpel]

Yeah, we have a fluorescent light bin at our transfer station here in Merrimack.

I'm surprised you had to ask them, if it was recently, since 40 CFR 273 has covered fluorescent lamps since 1999, based on characteristics in 40 CFR 261 Subpart C.

[tracysaboe]

From Back-woods home forums.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=ene-solar;action=display;num=1163381474
Solar Power Made Affordable 
By Shannara Johnson 

In a speech this year, President Bush said we?d have to get rid of ?our addiction to Middle East oil.? Now one man in South Africa seems to have taken a big step in that direction?at least when it comes to heating homes. 

A team of scientists led by Professor Vivian Alberts of the University of Johannesburg announced a huge breakthrough in solar technology early this year: They developed solar panels that can provide heat and electricity for a whole house?at a fraction of the cost of conventional solar devices. 

?In a perfect world,? explains an article in Science in Africa, an online science magazine, ?a silicon-based photo voltaic cell can convert roughly 25% of the incipient solar energy it receives into electricity. . . the rest of the solar radiation is either too high or too low intensity to do anything. In reality, only 15% (under optimal conditions) of incipient solar energy is harnessed by the cell.? 

With Professor Alberts? invention, this output becomes much larger. Whereas a typical solar panel uses silicon slabs more than 350 microns thick because of its poor absorption properties, the new panels, which contain no silicon, operate with a 5-micron film?a quarter of the thickness of a human hair. They use normal window glass and are much more efficient than the old panels; so much so that they don?t even require direct sunlight to produce significant power. The panels based on this alloy will have a working life of about 20 years. 

Through a special converter, energy can be fed directly into the wiring of the house. And with a price that will be less than a third of a normal solar panel, gaining power from sunlight will become a viable option for many more homeowners than it is now. 

?With batteries, invertors and power management systems. . . the system will pay itself off in about 1 year,? states Science in Africa. ?For a more energy-thirsty system, it would take about 2 to 3 years and after that, a household would be looking at 17 years of just about free energy.? 

The South Africans plan to begin manufacturing the new, inexpensive panels in 2007. However, their German partner company, IFE Solar Systems, one of the world leaders in solar energy, has already started and will produce 500,000 panels before the end of this year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So It's not the same technology I had previously read about, about 1 third the price is still better then current although not as good as 1/10. And they're already in mass production.

Tracy

[mvpel]

http://solarusa.org/ThinFilm.html

A recent invention in solar power by Professor Vivian Alberts at the University of Johannesburg, which uses a micro-thin metallic film, has made solar electricity five times less expensive than solar photovoltaic cells. For the first time, solar electricity is economically feasible and cheaper than coal. South African solar panels invented by Vivian Alberts of the University of Johannesburg consist of a thin layer approximately five microns thick (a human hair is 20 microns thick) of a unique metal alloy that converts light into energy at a fraction of the cost. The photo-responsive alloy can operate on virtually all flexible surfaces.

[Pat McCotter]

Sounds like the same hype as the air car

[mvpel]

Not quite, from the looks of it - they got a $20 million DOE grant, and have bought a manufacturing facility in San Jose, California, formerly of Cisco: http://www.nanosolar.com/

Don't rush out and buy those monocrystalline or polycrystalline panels just yet, they may well be on the brink of obsolescence.

[Dreepa]

Not quite, from the looks of it - they got a $20 million DOE grant,

Although I wouldn't call getting a govertment handout  a ringing endorsement... remember the government gives my money to all sorts of foolish projects.

[mvpel]

Yeah, in the list I saw they gave another $17.9 million to a company trying to make growing solar-cell silicon crystals cheaper.  If NanoSolar is all its cracked up to be, that'll be about $17.9 million down the crapper.

[LiveFree]

Soooooooooooo...  When will we see these on the market?

[mvpel]

They're apparently already lining up sales to integrators and installers, and are saying 2007 availability with four products, including one intended to be incorporated into commercial membrane roofing.  The town of Merrimack has 10 acres of such roofing in the school system, might be an interesting way to offset some costs there.

It looks like the main thing they're looking at now is the product lifetime - most current solar tech has a 25-year warranty, and given this tech is so new, they're not sure it can meet or exceed that.

[LiveFree]

At 1/3 the cost???  of the silicon based stuff, I sure HOPE it can meet or exceed a 25 year lifetime!  That would be kind of an exciting prospect...