New solar cell material achieves almost 100% efficiency, could solve world-wide energy problems

Wow.
This is truly fantastic news for solar technology.
I always thought it was weird that one of the earliest popular renewable energy scavenging methods was so inefficient.
Well, I guess it does kinda go along with our natural evolution. Just seems like we're gonna need more huge breakthroughs like this seen to fruition and wide adoption or we're not going to make it.
Man, I bet those panels are gonna look sick too. Who needs headlights when your whole car phosphoresces?

This definitely shows promise.
The impression I get from this thread is that current solar tech is not viable and the government doesn't want you to have free power.
I can't comment on the situation in the U.S but here in Australia the government offers up to $8000 rebates on solar / wind power systems. which means You can get a 2KW system for about $12000 and smaller systems from $3000. (AUD) With a few other changes you can be off the grid or even get credits from the power company. That's my plan.
If your a do it yourselfer you could probably cut that cost drastically or extend a basic system with more panels or turbines.

A previous poster said all past announced energy breakthroughs are hoaxes, true for the most part however there was a very real conspiracy surrounding the cold fusion issue, and it is currently under development.
If it hadn't been for the suppression from institutions like MIT and wind bag detractors who knows where this technology could be today. Electric cars have been viable for a long time, and several electric bikes have recently gone on the market, you can even build an electric bike reasonably cheaply. Another plan

This will never see the daylight - patents will be bought by petroleum industry and shelved for centuries.

Trust me.

It happened before and will happen again until the last drop of oil is sucked out earth. In fact that might never happen, because there is evidence that at the depth of earth oil is reproduced at a constant rate (now forget about fairy tale that tells you millions of years old organic matter has become oil).

If I was in charge I would give these guys unlimited funds to get this ready and In mass production.....watch it get swept under the carpet.

This is awesome!

Solar technology is garnering the most scientific research of any energy production devices, and it's only a matter of time before they achieve optimal efficiency.

It would be fantastic if such technology could receive grants to lower prices. I think homeowners buying these kinds of things wold be ideal to solve many of our energy demands.

Lets hope something positive comes out of it

The biggest obstacle course is the oil giants. They'll never let this material hit the market, they'll buy out anyone who tries to push it. This is an excellent find, but it'll never happen.

These articles are really starting to annoy me. Every few months we hear about some new breakthrough in solar technology....yet we can still only buy the same inefficient solar panels at relatively the same cost as we could 20 years ago.

Does anyone honestly believe that we the consumer will ever see cheap and highly efficient solar tech?

I don't

Originally posted by SUNRAY06
IN THE NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN FILEwww.tgdaily.com...

These are things that get trotted out..and swallowed up and are never ever to be heard from again. You can bet your bottom dollar this technology will be stifled and bottled up at every turn.

Agreed, I don't think some people in the fossil fuel industries are done making their fortunes yet.

This will mostly likely just go back to sleep.

Originally posted by LastOutfiniteVoiceEternal
reply to post by die_another_day

 

This is awesome, but the patent will most likely be bought out by the oil corps. and we'll never hear of it again.

cmon people lets make the FAR FUTURE NOOOOWWWW!!!!

reply to post by die_another_day


Often these reports don't amount to much and media coverage is an effort to rally up investors. But I don't give up hope yet, you just never know.

Technology only infrequently improves in quantum leaps, most of the improvement is slow and steady with hard work. Sometimes a big discovery like this may not be able to fulfill all its promises in practice but still helps in other areas.

This technology may be promising, but the proof will be in whether they can manufacture in volumes with a net energy return, as some energy is obviously spent in the manufacturing process. Energy is spent not only in manufacturing but the mining of raw materials.

Let's wait and see...

-rrr

reply to post by daddymax


Today, even run off the mill ordinary solar panels are just good enough that you get a good net return on investment. While we should welcome advances in solar technology, we should not forget what used to be an advancement say 15 years ago, and deploying some of that seemingly old technology now is feasible and sensible, in a few cases even for the private individuals (albeit with government subsidies)

-rrr

I guess that storage building is getting very very full right now.We all know that this will never see the light of day


Just another one they will buy and put on the shelf

I wonder how far we really are in this world

and to think this was the breaking news story not so long ago

www.worldculturepictorial.com...

reply to post by die_another_day


Great news if it pans out. Here's keeping my fingers crossed. Great find.

Originally posted by FIFIGI
This will never see the daylight - patents will be bought by petroleum industry and shelved for centuries.

Trust me.

It happened before and will happen again until the last drop of oil is sucked out earth. In fact that might never happen, because there is evidence that at the depth of earth oil is reproduced at a constant rate (now forget about fairy tale that tells you millions of years old organic matter has become oil).

Give me evidence that these kind of suppressions have happened in the past.

Give me proof that the technology that was 'bought' really worked and could replace entirely existing technologies.

Youtube/Google videos and snake oil websites don't count as verifiable/concrete evidence/proof. So don't ever think of pressing that Google/Youtube button.

It happened before? When? Patents don't mean crap if the technology hasn't been proven. Hell there are even patents on fart suppressors. Google ridiculous stupid patents. So patents can't be used as evidence.

The reason why these new solar technologies are now seeing the light of day is because of the ever increasing price of oil. Also more and more companies and agencies are investing and researching on this because of the increasing feasibility of the combined new developments and manufacturing processes made possible by the ever advancing technology of computers.

There hes never been an urgency in the need of alternative energy as it is today. Today's degrading economy is the more reason these new alternatives are being given the needed attention.

So stop saying big oil/Illuminati/NWO/George Bush will prevent the discovery, development or existence of new energies. There has been NO EVIDENCE to suggest that. Never been.

Stop being paranoid. No ones out there to get them.

[edit on 21-10-2008 by spacebagel]

Originally posted by spacebagel

Give me evidence that these kind of suppressions have happened in the past.



[edit on 21-10-2008 by spacebagel]

Tesla, Edward Leedskalnin, plasma universe theory. the list goes on but i havent heard about those things yet, haha, get it?

The only way things like this WILL not die is if we the internet community arent afraid to spread this information to as many people as possible.

[edit on 21-10-2008 by drsmooth23]

Originally posted by drsmooth23

Originally posted by spacebagel

Give me evidence that these kind of suppressions have happened in the past.



[edit on 21-10-2008 by spacebagel]

Tesla, Edward Leedskalnin, plasma universe theory. the list goes on but i havent heard about those things yet, haha, get it?

The only way things like this WILL not die is if we the internet community arent afraid to spread this information to as many people as possible.

[edit on 21-10-2008 by drsmooth23]

Then if Tesla was the real deal why did Tesla abandon the magnetic resonance project that "would have powered the world?" Because it was junk science.

A lot of the things Tesla was working on were little more than hallucinations. Same with Edison, though he was much more organized about keeping track of experiments that failed. Cutting-edge science always involves a lot of groping that comes to nothing; even Newton seriously studied alchemy, which we now know to be complete bull#.

There is very little in the "undiscovered" Tesla stuff that's worthwhile. On the other hand, he researched things that were legit but need modern technology to actually do. The Tesla turbine couldn't be made to work reliably in his day, but can now; we'll start seeing it replace conventional fans pretty soon.

Like I said computer technology made pasts failures or mere theories a possibility. Not because in the past some dudes dressed in black/grey working for the boogieman were suppressing these discoveries.

People's ignorance to realize the complicated hurdles needed to be overcome in the progression of science fueled by the numerous combinations of discoveries by different scientists over long periods of time are the fact that these unfounded statements were made by running their spouting collective mouths.

Just say a sentence containing the word Tesla and Bob's your uncle right? Haha, get it?

Bt the way, Ayn Rand seems to have gotten the idea for an important invention in "Atlas Shrugged" from Tesla. Just remember - and she would have told you this - it's fiction. Haha, get it?

Oh and you haven't given me evidence or proof that I demanded in my previous post. Haha, get it?

[edit on 21-10-2008 by spacebagel]

reply to post by die_another_day


If true, this will change the world.
But I have my doubts that this is true. It is suspicious that this story comes out so soon after a science episode on PBS focused on the same topic and in that story, the creation of the new material was also an accident, it changed the world and prevented a war. And that all happened in the story, 50 years into the future.

I'll say it again each time the renewables come up. I got this theory that if we switch over to solar power, instead of nature being saved it will get worse (contrary to people's expectations and hopes - it will be quite an anticlimax).

Right now there is the same amount of energy coming from the sun as it will be in a hundred years, where technology is even more advanced. This energy is not used to power vehicles, house appliances, computers and lights as it will in the future.

The energy for that is coming from fossil fuels, which sits unused under the earth's layer (meaning while buried it serves no real function to the current ecosystem nor to humanity until it gets dug up). Now if we were to use solar power we take a huge gap out of the total amount of energy that is circulating in our ecosystem. Instead of plants and animals absorbing it one way or another it powers movies, vehicles and all said things we like to do, which is not really a vital part to the ecosystem (actually it is already counterproductive) like a tree is a machine that converts carbondioxide and we do the opposite, one would not function without the other.

Think of it like a huge energy flow that is needed to create and sustain this ecosystem, that gets tapped and ends up as warmth (as a byproduct from most things we use). Still enough to keep the planet at a decent level while we can see life just fading out like a candle because it has less and less energy.

Scientific breakthroughs like these are promising but they will not do much for the general population instead it will likely turnout a prerequisite to creating advanced spacecraft, afterall the tons of energy the sun is throwing into space doesn't appear to be used for something that is needed to support this solar system (the universe seems to have or be an abundance of energy all around us, we just can't get to it).

[edit on 21-10-2008 by Dragonfly79]

reply to post by spacebagel


You are part of the group that thinks there are no conspiracys, just paranoid people. And in some cases you are right. But if anyone could come up with the proof to satisfy you at this moment, they could also go public with this proof and gain a great deal of support from the sheeple. So no, there will be no proof. But this one article for instance, perhaps you could file it away in your memory banks and ask next year "what ever happend to that solar panel stuff?". While I am quite sure someone will tell you that is was just Junk science and go back to your cubicle. The us government has technology far greater than that which is used or even understood by the general public. I would venture to guess that many other governments do as well.
So all I am asking you to do is to remember this one thing untill next year and see if just maybe there might be a little something to all these conspiracy wackos.