Associated Press:
A University of Idaho professor is devising a new form of solar cell she says could lead to a breakthrough that would make solar energy commercially feasible.
Chemist Pam Shapiro, her graduate students and her colleagues at the university are working on creating better materials and combining them in new ways that could more than double the efficiency of present solar cells. If successful, she said the new technology could help the U.S. break its oil dependency.
"People are trying to make solar cells that are more efficient," Shapiro told The Lewiston Tribune. "But it's so much cheaper to use fossil fuels, despite all the obvious advantages of solar cell technology."
So far, Shapiro's team has created a compound called a "quantum dot" that is made of elements that include copper, indium and selenium. Shapiro said that the quantum dots would be embedded between layers of a solar cell and would absorb energy that is otherwise wasted due to overheating.
"These solar cells based on quantum dots aim to make better use of that excess energy," Shapiro said.
Shapiro's timing couldn't be better, because the bad news is pretty bad.
Associated Press:
The rate at which humans are pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has more than doubled since the 1990s, according to Australian research, the latest report warning about the high rate of emissions accumulating in the atmosphere.
Findings published by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization also showed that 2005 marked the fourth-consecutive year of increased carbon dioxide emissions.
"To have four years in a row of above-average carbon dioxide growth is unprecedented," Paul Fraser, a scientist with the CSIRO's center for marine and atmospheric research, said in a statement.
[...]
Mike Raupach, a scientist with the organization, said from 2000 to 2005 the growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions was more than 2.5 percent per year, whereas in the 1990s it was less than 1 percent per year.
Clearly, the future of energy -- if we're going to be responsible -- is renewables and batteries. Solar collectors, wind farms, stored energy, etc. are the answers to our problems. I especially like the quantom dot, since it recognizes that energy that would otherwise be lost can be used as well.
Tags: news politics environment energy global warming pollution science
