From toothpaste to solar energy

Steven Lake

http://israel21c.org/environment/from-toothpaste-to-solar-energy

It'll be interesting to see where this technology goes. Heck, if it reduces energy costs as much as they expect it to, we could be seeing (possibly) PV rates as 25c per watt instead of the current ~$1. If that were the case, it'd almost certainly make solar an even more attractive option for the average homeowner. Or if nothing else, it'll allow people to install larger arrays for the same cost.

mike95490

Re: From toothpaste to solar energy

"We're on schedule for pilot production in early 2009, with initial plant production in Israel in 2010,"

http://www.3gsolar.com/applications.html

O my gosh, they are so good, they should be jumping off the truck and onto houses right now!

niel

Re: From toothpaste to solar energy

when you go to the site what i see missing right off the bat is a section called products. now i suspect the efficiency is probably much less than desirable and for all we know you'd need a panel about 1 meter squared to produce a watt. i admit i didn't read that far into it as it may have indicated the area needed for production.

i would imagine if the technology was any good that there would be products being made and for a technology that was discovered in the late 80s then it makes me think there's something wrong with it.

i just have one question,
if the thing breaks can we brush our teeth with it?:p:p

Steven Lake

Re: From toothpaste to solar energy

"I don't have any power, but I have pearly whites!" lol.

techntrek

Re: From toothpaste to solar energy

Sounds like the perfect solution to power my electric toothbrush and water pick. Excuse me a second, I need to spit and rinse.

jagec

Re: From toothpaste to solar energy

silicon, the relatively expensive and scarce semiconductor

(citation needed)

Biologists use FRET a lot. A major problem with any of these fluorescent effects is photobleaching--most dyes will work great for a while, but then will undergo a side reaction and be quenched. You can alter the chemical environment and add an oxygen scavenging system to improve the lifetime of your dyes, but that has its own set of problems, and they still tend to conk out eventually. They are using quantum dots, which are more stable, but also much more EXPENSIVE.

They may well have panels that are much more efficient than traditional silicon...for a few hours. Maybe even days. But I don't think that their panels will be cheaper or longer-lived than silicon.