Honda: Solar Production Begins.

[jpak]

http://www.green-energy-news.com/arch/nrgs2007/20070128.html

Though Honda has been mass producing solar cells since October, and has begun sales of them, the opening of Honda Soltec’s production facility in Kumamoto, Japan makes it official: Honda’s in the solar business.

As you’d expect from the cutting edge car company, the product is state of the art. Honda is using thin-film, copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS) cell technology - a technology still trying to gain footing against tried and true silicon solar. But Honda says that overall, in the big picture, grand scheme of things, CIGS is greener than silicon solar. The company says CIGS use 50 percent less energy to manufacture, start to finish, than conventional silicon crystal solar cells.

The new facility will reach full speed of 27.5 megawatts annual capacity by next spring. Honda says that’s enough to power about 9000 Japanese homes. Already the Soltec subsidiary has 80 distributor locations in Japan and will have 200 there by the end of 2008. In conjunction with the commemoration of the new plant Honda will begin exports of the solar products.

The plant will employ 150.

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[Ian David]

1. Gee, I wonder why American companies aren't makign solar panels? n/t

[JDPriestly]

2. Corruption

[Nederland]

3. Many do

You obviously know nothing about the solar industry.

Here is a rather long list of companies that make solar panels, cells, etc:

http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/solar_energy_solar_power_panels.htm

Note how many of them are US businesses.

[Ian David]

4. I know that. But there should be much, MUCH more. n/t

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Why?

How many American companies make cars?
How many American companies make computers?

If there is sufficient demand, the current companies will grow, or new companies will be created to take their places.

[Kolesar]

12. Thanks for the link! ... eom

[ladjf]

6. The oil and coal companies don't want it to happen.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. No, actually they do

The smart oil companies (like Shell and BP) got into the solar game years ago.

[ladjf]

8. Actually, they don't.

[Nederland]

18. Ummmm

The poster provided two examples with links unequivocally demonstrating that you were wrong, and all you can say is "Actually, they don't"?

Sorry, you'll have to do better than that...

[ladjf]

21. No, I don't.

[Nederland]

25. Please stop

At this point you are only embarrassing yourself.

[ladjf]

27. Who gave you the authority to tell me how I should handle my

posts?

You probably know as well as I that big energy companies in the U.S. have a long history of squelching alternate energy initiatives. If you don't already know that, then it is you that needs to do some research. Don't expect me to do it for you.


I would appreciate it you would state your opinions on the topic of this thread rather than grading my posts.

[Nederland]

28. Some do, some don't

[Nihil]

22. DFTT ...

:hi:

[Dover]

26. Lots of books on this subject. Try reading - The Sun Betrayed (Ray Reece)

A little dated (1979) since it was written when much of the activities to 'kill' the solar energy movement first began.
It's actually so full of well researched cases and detailed documentation that the reading is a little dry, but the content and it's message is indisputable regarding the attempts to kill off alternative energy (solar in particular) by the major energy companies in collusion with government.
And that story hasn't changed. In fact the energy companies have now 'installed' their own people in our government. Now THAT's energy efficient, eh?

http://www.rayreece.net/sun-betrayed.html

[IronLionZion]

10. Dutch and British of course

because they were smart enough to decide to be energy companies instead of oil companies.

[OKIsItJustMe]

14. Chevron is also involved in Solar

http://www.chevronenergy.com/

[Gregorian]

9. Great. But we still have a long way to go. They're still around 12% efficient.

Almost the same article from a year ago-

http://seekingalpha.com/article/21916-honda-joins-cigs-solar-cell-producers


But it's damned exciting.


And if you want to feel depressed about how out of the loop we are now, just look at this page-

http://world.honda.com/tech/

[nashville_brook]

11. bf and I were discussing the infancy of solar industry the other day...

he was reading Crichton's horrible anti-environmental screed, State of Fear, where the writer uses all manner of logical fallacies to smear environmental initiatives. one fallacy in particular is that technology as it exists today, isn't up to snuff -- as in: these solar cells are just hunks of junk, they'll never catch on.

we wondered what people might have said about the combustible engine at first. "it's not safe. it's doesn't work well. it'll never catch on."

i guess what interests me is how valuable 12 percent efficiency actually is to us. it's precious. as the industry grows, hopefully strides as large as we see in computer chip technology will become the norm. it is very exciting indeed.

[Gregorian]

13. I'm also really excited.

You know why I am sounding pessimistic is because I'm just getting ready to bring power onto a property. And I'd really like to do solar. But as it stands, we're essentially using 1970's technology. And in only a year or two we're going to be miles ahead. In batteries and in photovoltaics.

It's an interesting time. I just think I'll hold off until it's a tad more refined. I'm thinking of just investing in a small system, and living off a minimal load until the new stuff is on the market. Maybe one of these electric cars will get in an accident, and the batteries will be on ebay, or something.

:)

[OKIsItJustMe]

15. Things are always improving

Do you know people who can never buy a computer, because there's a new one coming that will be so much better?

I tell them, "Buy the computer today that you need today. Don't worry about what's coming tomorrow, unless you need that today."

My brother is completely off the grid, using very few solar cells, and a wind turbine. During the Summer months, they don't even need the turbine. The key is the energy efficiency of the house.


So, if you really need high efficiency cells, yes, they appear to be on the horizon, but I wouldn't look for them to be available real soon.


http://www.physorg.com/news99904887.html

Published: 08:21 EST, June 01, 2007

40% efficient solar cells to be used for solar electricity

By Lisa Zyga

Scientists from Spectrolab, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing, have recently published their research on the fabrication of solar cells that surpass the 40% efficiency milestone—the highest efficiency achieved for any photovoltaic device. Their results appear in a recent edition of Applied Physics Letters.
Most conventional solar cells used in today’s applications, such as for supplemental power for homes and buildings, are one-sun, single-junction silicon cells that use only the light intensity that the sun produces naturally, and have optimal efficiency for a relatively narrow range of photon energies.

The Spectrolab group experimented with concentrator multijunction solar cells that use high intensities of sunlight, the equivalent of 100s of suns, concentrated by lenses or mirrors. Significantly, the multijunction cells can also use the broad range of wavelengths in sunlight much more efficiently than single-junction cells.

"These results are particularly encouraging since they were achieved using a new class of metamorphic semiconductor materials, allowing much greater freedom in multijunction cell design for optimal conversion of the solar spectrum," Dr. Richard R. King, principal investigator of the high efficiency solar cell research and development effort, told PhysOrg.com. "The excellent performance of these materials hints at still higher efficiency in future solar cells."

In the design, multijunction cells divide the broad solar spectrum into three smaller sections by using three subcell band gaps. Each of the subcells can capture a different wavelength range of light, enabling each subcell to efficiently convert that light into electricity. With their conversion efficiency measured at 40.7%, the metamorphic multijunction concentrator cells surpass the theoretical limit of 37% of single-junction cells at 1000 suns, due to their multijunction structure.

While Spectrolab's primary business is supplying PV cells and panels to the aerospace industry (many of their solar cells are used on satellites currently in orbit), the company envisions that this breakthrough will also have applications in commercial terrestrial solar electricity generation.

The research that led to the discovery of the high efficiency concentrator solar cell was funded partly by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and will play a significant role in the government’s Solar America Initiative, which aims to make solar energy cost-competitive with conventional electricity generation by 2015. The company has said that these solar cells could help concentrator system manufacturers produce electricity at a cost that is competitive with electricity generated by conventional methods today.

The Spectrolab scientists also predict that with theoretical efficiencies of 58% in cells with more than three junctions using improved materials and designs, concentrator solar cells could achieve efficiencies of more than 45% or even 50% in the future.

Citation: King, R. R., Law, D. C., Edmondson, K. M., Fetzer, C. M., Kinsey, G. S., Yoon, H., Sherif, R. A., and Karam, N. H. “40% efficient metamorphic GaInP/GaInAs/Ge multijunction solar cells.” Applied Physics Letters 90, 183516 (2007).

[Gregorian]

17. That's pretty cool.

I seem to remember a multiple junction cell that was in development by Lawrence Labs at Berkeley, only a few years ago.

I'm really more concerned about the batteries. I can always buy more photovoltaics. But I don't want to end up with a herd of big lunking lead acid batteries.

And my loads are big enough that I'll need a fairly large system. I don't see this in the same light as the computer comparison. Well, actually that isn't a bad comparison. But the thing about computers is they've been changing so fast. This is more like computers in 1985. Now that was awful. So the comparison would be that I have a IBM 286 with 56k of ram, and I know that we're not just jumping to the 386, but we're making a huge leap. That's my concern. I see photovoltaic and battery technology both making big improvements.

I'm so darned excited about all of this. It's a shame it wasn't more of a national priority. A real shame. So here we are.

I'm most likely going to bring the power company lines in. Then I'll have a grid tied system. Screw the batteries. For now.

I can't wait!

[OKIsItJustMe]

19. Batteries Schmatteries

As long as you're dreaming about the future, Ultracapacitors may be the way to go.
http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/energystorage/ultracapacitors.html
http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/18086/page1/

[Gregorian]

20. That's an interesting thought. One I hadn't entertained.

But it's really not the right tool for the application. It's great for starting and recovering energy from a stopping a car. But without knowing more about them, I can pretty safely say they don't have the capacity of a battery. Amp hours. They have the amps, but not the hours.

Actually, the hardest part of my project is going to be the planning department. Haha. I may be faced with nearly a year of botanical studies. Not to mention archeologic and biologic surveys. Yuck. I found a beautiful place, but very difficult to live on. Which is good. That's why when one drives (keyword DRIVES, which is the irony) down the California coast, they don't see sprawl and thoughtless structures. I'm excited, but not rich enough to do much but own the land. Anyways, that's my story. If I hit water over the weekend, I'll know it's my place. Then the county gauntlet begins. Everyone with their hands out for money. But I tend to get lucky... Hopefully.

[kestrel91316]

16. I used to enjoy Crichton's books, but since he became such a GW

denier, I don't allow his books in my home. I gave a hardback copy of Prey (or whatever the name of his nanotech thriller was) to Goodwill that I had received as a gift a few years back.

[nashville_brook]

24. the bf is addicted to "bad fiction" -- it's a guilty pleasure, i suppose...

he started commenting on the political tone of the Crichton book in the first couple of pages. for myself, i couldn't understand why he had to finish it. i guess it's like a compulsion -- but, now that he's finished the POS, he's sworn off of Crichton as well. thank god.

i'm a non-fiction kinda girl, so i don't understand this compulsion at all. yuk.

[NoFederales]

23. Do you know what the specs are on the solar cells?

NoFederales