Cross section of nanotube tower: Photo credit: Georgia Tech Research InstituteThe Georgia Tech Research Institute has come up with a solar panel design that could revolutionize the solar industry.

The new design features many nano-towers - think of microscopic blades of grass - that capture more sunlight because they have a larger surface area than the traditional flat design of photovoltaic (PV) cells. These three-dimensional panels produce about 60 times more current that regular solar cells. Because of this leap in efficiency, the coatings on the PV cells can be made thinner, and the overall size, weight, and mechanical complexity of the systems are reduced. From the news release:

“The GTRI photovoltaic cells trap light between their tower structures, which are about 100 microns tall, 40 microns by 40 microns square, 10 microns apart — and built from arrays containing millions of vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes. Conventional flat solar cells reflect a significant portion of the light that strikes them, reducing the amount of energy they absorb.

Because the tower structures can trap and absorb light received from many different angles, the new cells remain efficient even when the sun is not directly overhead.”

But although the new design can produce a current much more efficiently, photovoltaic cells have to generate a voltage too. So far there’s too much resistance within the solar cell to produce the type of electricity that’s needed. Researchers say that hurdle will be the next phase of development.

The United States Air Force funded part of the research, seeking a smaller, more efficient solar panel that could eventually be used to power satellites and spacecraft. Researchers at Georgia Tech believe solar power would see a large jump in residential and commercial use as well if this lightweight and more efficient design is proven effective.

Georgia Tech Research News
International Business Times via the Green Report

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed two major bills supporting renewable energy this week, keeping with his theme of a “New Energy Economy” for the state.

The first was HB 1281, which expands the state’s renewable energy standard by doubling the goal to 20 percent of all resources by 2020 for big utilities. It also includes a goal of 10 percent renewables by 2020 for small utilities and caps the implementation cost for customers of the big utilities to 2 percent of their monthly electric bill. Rural electric associations have a 3-to-1 credit to invest in solar energy.

The next bill, SB 100, makes it easier to build or expand transmission lines to move wind power from the rural areas where it’s generated to the populated urban areas where it’s needed. Utilities can recover the construction costs from customers before the power line is operational.

Governor Ritter explained the bills’ significance:

"These new laws will improve our economic security, our environmental security and our national security. They will breathe new economic life into rural Colorado. They will create new jobs, and they will say to the rest of the world, 'Colorado is open for business in what will be one of the most important industries of the 21st century.'"

According to the Denver Business Journal, the bills had the support of lawmakers, energy providers, and renewable energy advocates.

Denver Business Journal

Oregon has seen some exciting solar energy policies lately, like increasing its net metering laws to 2 megawatts (MW), proposed legislation for a renewable energy standard that includes provisions for community solar power, and a bill increasing the incentives for residential solar hot water and solar electric systems.

Now you can add “North America’s largest solar factory” to the state’s sunny solar outlook.

The German tech company SolarWorld AG is building a facility that will produce integrated solar silicon wafers (the primary component for the production of solar panels) and solar cells (the part that converts sunlight into electricity) in Hillsboro, OR.

SolarWorld will invest about $400 million to expand and develop the new facility over the next 2 years, which it acquired from the Japanese Komatsu Group. That company had already invested around $500 million in the facility but it never went into production because of weak demand in the chip industry. Oregon will support the investments by offering property and business energy tax credits.

A spokesman for the Oregon Department of Energy said the state is “absolutely committed to the long-term development of this [solar] industry.” Jon Miller, executive director of the Oregon Solar industry, noted that Oregon’s business-friendly climate for renewable energy industries made this significant development happen:

"This will provide Oregon with a very big economic boost and it highlights a vigorous effort by Oregon to attract businesses from the renewable energy industry. It's great news…to get another big renewable energy win for the Northwest."

SolarWorld currently has production facilities in nearby Vancouver, WA that employs about 100 people, all of whom will be offered jobs at the Hillsboro plant. The company employs 1,350 workers worldwide and expects the Hillsboro facility to employ up to another 1,000 people. The addition of this plant represents a significant expansion of their share of the U.S. solar energy market.

Photo courtesy of SolarWorld AG

Renewable Energy Access
The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)

Installing solar energy on your home or business can be a daunting task, and even the process of gathering information can be overwhelming. Part 1 of this series discussed the basics of solar energy, but even more detailed information can be found at the Green Options wiki. In particular, the solar entry and the photovoltaic (PV) facts sheet are good introductions.

Green Options also has a growing list of discussion forums with topics like “Alternative Energy” and – my favorite – the “Solar Power Fan Club.” You can post a question, comment, or recommendation and hook up with other folks who are exploring solar for the first time or perhaps are seasoned users. You can even start a new discussion thread if your topic doesn’t fit an established one.

You’ll see even more from Green Options in the near future; our online tools will provide practical assistance and information to help you get started on the road to solar. In the meantime, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency is a good, easy-to-navigate site that has financial assistance organized by type (utility rebates, state incentives, etc). The Solar Energy Industries Association is in 14 states and monitors state programs, stays up-to-date on legislation, and can help out homeowners who are having trouble with a local homeowners association or zoning board.

If you are thinking of going solar, or perhaps are already in the process, be assured that there are lots of other folks out there also learning and making the switch. We here at Green Options hope to make that journey a bit easier.

Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency
Solar Energy Industries Association

As I discussed in Solar Power Part 1, humans have been tinkering with solar energy for some time. So what makes the 21st century different, if at all?

To get a professional perspective, I spoke with Ron Rich, President of Atmosphere Recovery, Inc. His company owns a process that makes industrial furnaces run more efficiently, even recycling their CO2 emissions. In past lives, he’s been the head of the Minnesota Energy Agency and was the first solar systems engineer for Honeywell. He's quite the energy number cruncher and provided me with a good bird's eye view of the solar photovoltaic market. He believes that the 21^st century will be different from the 1940s, when there was a big solar push after WWII, and different from the 1970s, when there was a big solar push during the oil crisis.

He points out that although gas prices have come down from an average last year of $2.58, the interest in solar remains high because people are starting to see the impacts of global warming. Their concerns, as well as our over-reliance on fossil fuels and the wars that that dependence gets us in, are overriding the fact that gas prices have come down a few dimes and are predicted to average out to $2.51 per gallon in 2007. Rich is confident that this time, the U.S. is poised to launch itself into a clean energy economy with solar energy an important part of it.

For one thing, the cost of solar is coming down and will come down even further with mass production urged on by policies like the Million Solar Roofs plan in California. Check out the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency for a state-by-state guide to incentives and rebates, and this article in Mother Earth News for a good intro to calculating the payback time of a solar power system.

Rich also predicts that creative financing for could become more widespread and easier for homeowners. Options include building the cost of the PV system into the home’s mortgage, increased incentives, or solar easements. Solar systems could get more attractive too, like solar shingles or more subtle PV panels.

Solar is made from widely available materials, with more and more high tech improvements being made. In December 2006, solar power was in the news when a project reached an efficiency rate of 40.7 percent, the highest ever for sunlight-to-electricity performance. In a recent Green Options post, Philip Proefrock reported on a new model of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels that can produce more watts per square foot that the traditional model and uses 88% less PV material. And one company has even patented a technology using nanosilicon PV cells that can be sprayed onto windows in a thin film, allowing the windows themselves to produce electricity.

All signs seem to be pointing to a brighter path for solar; more financing options, better technology, and more supportive policies and incentives could make the early 21^st century the dawn of the solar age.

Welcome to Green Options! To help you begin greening your good life, my blog will feature a 3-part series on the basics of solar power. I’ll start today with a simple background and history of solar energy, then on Friday I’ll cover why we may be at the dawning of the Solar Age, and then finally on Saturday I’ll plug this all into Green Options and how we can help you take advantage of this limitless resource.

Believe it or not, humans have been trying to harness the sun’s incredible power to make electricity for years. Some visionaries, at the height of the industrial revolution, questioned what the world would do after using up all the fossil fuel supplies and began exploring solar power. Frank Shuman, a solar engineer in the early 20th century, declared that the sun is “the most rational source of power.”

Today, the most common type of solar power you probably see – whether on roofs or yard lights – use photovoltaic cells or “PVs” to convert sunlight into energy. PV cells are small, square semiconductors made in thin film layers, mostly from silicon. When the sun shines on the cell, a chemical reaction releases electrons, generating direct current (DC) electricity. The current is then fed through an inverter to make alternating current (AC). For a more detailed description, click here to see a short video from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Currently there are 475 megawatts of solar power installed in the United States, enough to power about 240,000 homes. The U.S. used to be the global leader in PV manufacturing, but has been surpassed by Japan and is barely ahead of China. However, no country has even begun to tap the sun’s potential: The amount of energy from sunlight that hits the earth every hour is more energy than humans can use in an entire year. But with the right government incentives like we're seeing in California, combined with entrepreneurs and a good business climate, many are predicting a sunny outlook for solar technologies.

Boston Museum of Science
DuPont
History of Solar Energy
Investors Business Daily
The Solar Depot
U.S. Department of Energy