Full Version: Tipping Point In Energy
looks like this summer the oil barrel will touch 150$.
Take energy. Today, 70 percent of it comes from fossil fuels, a 19th-century technology. But if we could capture just 1/10,000th of the sunlight that falls on Earth, we could meet 100 percent of the world's energy needs using this renewable and environmentally friendly source. We can't do that now because solar panels rely on old technology, making them expensive, inefficient, heavy, and hard to install. But a new generation of panels based on nanotechnology is starting to overcome these obstacles. The tipping point at which energy from solar panels will actually be less expensive than fossil fuels is only a few years away. The power we are generating from solar is doubling every two years; at that rate, it will be able to meet all energy needs within 20 years.
Nanotechnology itself is an information technology and therefore subject to what I call the "law of accelerating returns," a continual doubling of capability about every year. I'm confident that the day is close at hand when we will be able to obtain energy from sunlight using nanoengineered solar panels and store it for use on cloudy days in nanoengineered fuel cells for less than it costs to use environmentally damaging fossil fuels.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080418/cm_csm/ykurzweil
QUOTE(peen1 @ Apr 18 2008, 08:49 PM) 
looks like this summer the oil barrel will touch 150$.
Take energy. Today, 70 percent of it comes from fossil fuels, a 19th-century technology. But if we could capture just 1/10,000th of the sunlight that falls on Earth, we could meet 100 percent of the world's energy needs using this renewable and environmentally friendly source. We can't do that now because solar panels rely on old technology, making them expensive, inefficient, heavy, and hard to install. But a new generation of panels based on nanotechnology is starting to overcome these obstacles. The tipping point at which energy from solar panels will actually be less expensive than fossil fuels is only a few years away. The power we are generating from solar is doubling every two years; at that rate, it will be able to meet all energy needs within 20 years.
Nanotechnology itself is an information technology and therefore subject to what I call the "law of accelerating returns," a continual doubling of capability about every year. I'm confident that the day is close at hand when we will be able to obtain energy from sunlight using nanoengineered solar panels and store it for use on cloudy days in nanoengineered fuel cells for less than it costs to use environmentally damaging fossil fuels.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080418/cm_csm/ykurzweil
Take energy. Today, 70 percent of it comes from fossil fuels, a 19th-century technology. But if we could capture just 1/10,000th of the sunlight that falls on Earth, we could meet 100 percent of the world's energy needs using this renewable and environmentally friendly source. We can't do that now because solar panels rely on old technology, making them expensive, inefficient, heavy, and hard to install. But a new generation of panels based on nanotechnology is starting to overcome these obstacles. The tipping point at which energy from solar panels will actually be less expensive than fossil fuels is only a few years away. The power we are generating from solar is doubling every two years; at that rate, it will be able to meet all energy needs within 20 years.
Nanotechnology itself is an information technology and therefore subject to what I call the "law of accelerating returns," a continual doubling of capability about every year. I'm confident that the day is close at hand when we will be able to obtain energy from sunlight using nanoengineered solar panels and store it for use on cloudy days in nanoengineered fuel cells for less than it costs to use environmentally damaging fossil fuels.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080418/cm_csm/ykurzweil
The biggest technical hurdle for solar energy is not the panels but the battery. At the moment batteries only have a small capacity and hence their usefulness is limited. If this can be improved, as the above article suggest, then it would be a major break through.
It is a similiar problem to the one stopping the electric car. Hopefully, the technology will improve sufficiently to allow both these to be used economically. As with everything there are vested interests and unfortunately the oil companies are extremely powerful and have a lot of clout. So the progress is likely to be slow.
SOOOO long term investment in alternate energy source companies is a good gamble????
Any electrical engineers here who can think of the industry leaders??
Any electrical engineers here who can think of the industry leaders??
QUOTE(Baaz @ Apr 19 2008, 06:13 PM)
The biggest technical hurdle for solar energy is not the panels but the battery. At the moment batteries only have a small capacity and hence their usefulness is limited. If this can be improved, as the above article suggest, then it would be a major break through.
It is a similiar problem to the one stopping the electric car. Hopefully, the technology will improve sufficiently to allow both these to be used economically. As with everything there are vested interests and unfortunately the oil companies are extremely powerful and have a lot of clout. So the progress is likely to be slow.
It is a similiar problem to the one stopping the electric car. Hopefully, the technology will improve sufficiently to allow both these to be used economically. As with everything there are vested interests and unfortunately the oil companies are extremely powerful and have a lot of clout. So the progress is likely to be slow.
I have been in a Pakistani village for last two months, and thanks to 12-14 hours power outages daily, people are enjoying 19th century.
Baaz is right, battery capacity is the bottleneck of the day.
I have bought a modified UPS with 4 truck batteries. with managing load, it helps a lot.
if batteries start charging in half the current time, and their capacity doubles, and a bit cheaper solar panels, we don't need the stupid wapda in pakistan at all.
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