Soon to be accused of having WMD?
-Nifty-
A company has come out with what sounds like the New Jersey Institute of Technology's breakthrough in solar technology -- printable solar cells. The report asks us to imagine a "solar panel without the panel. Just a coating, thin as a layer of paint, that takes light and converts it to electricity. From there, you can picture roof shingles with solar cells built inside and window coatings that seem to suck power from the air. Consider solar-powered buildings stretching not just across sunny Southern California, but through China and India and Kenya as well, because even in those countries, going solar will be cheaper than burning coal."
Silicon Valley-based Nanosolar has produced the first commercial printed solar cells. The cells are produced "for about a tenth of what current panels cost and at a rate of several hundred feet per minute." This means that the cells produce energy at a cost of thirty cents a watt, compared with $1 a watt price tag for coal.
Right now, the cells come in rolls, but in earlier reports solar generation from tape and even paint was envisioned. This leaves us with one question -- if we eventually wind up generating most of our power by cheap solar, will that mean that future neocons will want to invade the sun?
Only time will tell... (Popular Science, via reddit)
-Headline of the day-
"Correction of the Day: Paris Hilton Did NOT Try to Save 'Binge-drinking' Elephants!" AP incorrectly reported that the famous-for-being-famous Hilton "was praised by conservationists for highlighting the problem of binge-drinking elephants in northeastern India." She wasn't.
The whole thing stems from offhand comments from Hilton posted on World Entertainment News Network's Web site, saying that elephants "get drunk all the time" and that the solution to the problem would be "to stop making alcohol available to them." And that's as far as Paris went with addressing the problem of elephants get hammered on rice beer brewed by Indian farmers.
Turns out that someone should do something about it, though. According to the report, "Just last month, six drunken elephants were accidently electrocuted."
I'm just glad they weren't driving. (Editor and Publisher)
-[FARK] headline of the day-
"cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys cloned monkeys." Actual story at ABC News. (FARK)
