Solar Cells Info

New sun traps start saving Earth before they’re plugged in
J. Mark Lytle, 13 Jun 2007
Source: Tech.co.uk
http://www.tech.co.uk/?articleid=1687026509

This week we just can’t get away from solar power. The latest intriguing Far-Eastern technology to cross our path is a new method for manufacturing domestic solar panels that are easy on the environment even before they’re plugged in.  Honda Soltec ‘s newest take on panels – built by its more famous parent company for it to sell – are next-generation CIGS cells. (Copper, indium, gallium and selenium are their major ingredients.) They go on sale this week for ¥60,000 (£250) each.

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By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Ko Si Boya, Thailand, June 12, 2007
Source: IPS News
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38134

Till over a year ago, health officials worried over maintaining the cold chain for vaccines delivered to children on this island. These included the ten given to new-born Thais, such as those for polio, diphtheria, tetanus, Japanese encephalitis and tuberculosis.  The nearly 30-minute journey on the Andaman Sea, the transfer to the health centres and the storage before final administration were points where the vaccines could get exposed to high ambient temperatures and lose potency.
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Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 15, 2007
Source. Earth Times /UPI
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/73175.html

Sri Lanka has received a new World Band credit to power thousands of rural homes and tap into private sector renewable energy.  Officials estimate Sri Lanka will be able to light up 60,000 rural homes and also connect new private-sector renewable energy to the urban power grid with a new World Bank credit, Lanka Business Online reported.
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Solaicx is the second solar company to locate in the state this year
Portland, Ore. June 12, 2007
Source: Solaicx News reports/Oregon Economic Development Association
http://www.solaicx.com/pages/news.htm

Solaicx, a leading manufacturer of mono-crystalline silicon ingots and wafers used in the solar energy industry, announced today that it will be locating its first high-volume manufacturing facility in Portland. For the past five years the company has developed manufacturing technologies that produce low-cost, high-efficiency silicon wafers for the photovoltaic (PV) industry that have been produced at the company’s pilot manufacturing facility in Santa Clara, Calif.
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By Tom Lawrence, Black Hills Pioneer
Deadwood, SD, June 11, 2007
Source: Black Hills Pioneer
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18458095

In the 1950s, President Dwight Eisenhower launched the interstate highway system and it still benefits America a half-century later.  “Some president sometime is going to build the national grid” to transport energy from one end of the nation to the other, predicted John O’Donnell, president of Ausra, Inc., a solar electric power park company. O’Donnell gave the initial keynote address during the opening day of the Western Governors’ Association annual meeting in Deadwood Sunday.
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The new class of materials enabling the world’s best solar cell has a bright future.

By Peter Fairley, June 15, 2007
Source: MIT Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18910/

A solar cell more than twice as efficient as typical rooftop solar panels has been developed by Spectrolab, a Boeing subsidiary based in Sylmar, CA. It makes use of a highly customizable and virtually unexplored class of materials that could lead to further jumps in efficiency over the next decade, making solar power less expensive than grid electricity in much of the country.

The cell, which employs new “metamorphic” materials, is designed for photovoltaic systems that use lenses and mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays onto small, high-efficiency solar cells, thereby requiring far less semiconductor material than conventional solar panels.

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Business Wire, 11 June 1007

Source: Austin News
http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=185866&SecID=2

A warehouse renovation project set for the historic Pearl Brewery site will also be a “learning laboratory” for “green” building and energy efficiency, featuring the largest solar energy installation in the state, announced CPS Energy and Silver Ventures, which is renovating the historic brewery in an adaptive re-use project.
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From Leslean Arshad, Osaka, May 25, 2007
Source: Bernama
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=264138

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that Malaysia should intensify efforts to develop alternative energy sources, especially solar power, by emulating Japan in this field.  Impressed by the widespread use of solar energy in Japan including for street lighting, the prime minister said that its usage should be widened as it could save money. (more…)

The New Delhi Municipal Council hopes to make a difference with ‘brainy’ streetlamps that sense ambient conditions to adjust brightness, run without recharging for five days
Tenzing Lamsang, New Delhi, June 3, 2007
Source: ExpressIndia
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=239403

THE New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) aims to save electricity, become more eco-friendly, reduce power theft, and do away with some of the headache of wiring — all at one go. The civic body is planning to replace all streetlights with solar-powered ones.  It will be the first in the country to go ahead with the plan on a large-scale. Already, a pilot project that began in the Chanakyapuri area in November 2006 has, despite some hiccups, proved a success. NDMC has tentatively set a 2010 deadline for replacing all streetlights.
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System is expected to generate an estimated 46,000 kWh per year
Baraboo, WI, May 18, 2007
Source: Kyocera Solar, Inc. /press release
http://www.kyocerasolar.com/news/news_detail.cfm?key=383

Kyocera Solar, Inc., a world renown producer and supplier of solar energy products, announced the completion of a 39.6 kW solar electric system atop the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center. Installed by H & H Solar Energy Services, the solar electric system is the second largest in the state of Wisconsin to date. The largest system, the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was also supplied by H&H and Kyocera Solar.
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