Many people think solar panels are ugly and that they are an eyesore on the roof of otherwise attractive homes. Some more rigid housing communities have gone so far as to ban them because of this bias. But most of us are familiar with the story about the ugly duckling.
Watch out because solar technology is growing up and changing its look!
In the industry there is a technology called BiPV – building integrated photovoltaics. BiPV offers a solution to having both the benefit of solar energy generated on your rooftop and the sleek roof of your dreams: solar shingles.
Yes, that’s right, solar technology is now being integrated right into roofing tiles – and they have them in different colors and styles to suite any taste. SUNSLATES, GE, Sharp, Kyocera, and Powerlight are among companies who offer these products for your home. BiPV is also available for flat roofs, walls, and glass installations.
So, if the aesthetics of solar technology has turned you away from an investment in your future and the future of our global environment, let its new face turn you on!
Solar & Bio Hydrogen:
What do ya’ll think of these nano structured hydrogen efforts :
Titania Nanotube Arrays Harness Solar Energy
http://www.physorg.com/news10244.html
Direct Solar to Hydrogen:
Rupert Leach, Director, Newspath Ltd, from the UK posted me about his talking to the Chairman of Hydrogen Solar, Julian Keable http://www.hydrogensolar.com/index.html, saying that they will be well over 10% efficiency in the near future with their Tandem Cell™, technology, and that they had initial issues with scale-up, but these seem to have been overcome and they were sounding rather optimistic a few weeks ago.
OR: BIO Hydrogen:
Craig Venter is back from his ocean cruse with the bugs he hopes will make all our fuel:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00932.html
And this company:
http://www.nanologix.net/index.php
“NanoLogix is a nanobiotechnology company that engages in the research, development, and commercialization of technologies for the production of bacteria, disease testing kits, alternative sources of fuel”
The NanoLogix breakthrough came about when the Company’s researchers were tinkering with its proprietary biological-based diagnostic and remediation technologies, noting that one of its patented bacterial culturing methods could produce byproduct gas surprisingly rich in hydrogen.
The implications are staggering – the world’s sustainability must increasingly rely upon biomass-based technologies because these processes use renewable resources. Unfortunately, biomass-based systems increase production of organic-matter wastewater. If treated by conventional waste treatment plants, this organic waste represents a costly economic and environmental liability.
“However, this same wastewater can also be viewed as an important potential resource for next-generation energy production,” says NanoLogix’s McClelland.
“The NanoLogix methodology for hydrogen generation is being developed for the limitless production of hydrogen from organic waste and wastewaters. Once fully proven, this has the potentiality for solving the world energy crisis through the limitless production of hydrogen from any waste organic byproduct, including sewage, and agricultural and food manufacturing waste.”
The bioreactor approach is scaling up.
Last year NanoLogix announced the results of a study that confirmed laboratory proof that its bioreactor system generates hydrogen in high yields via the use and adaptation of its intellectual property. In this study, the bioreactor produced biogas consisting of 50% hydrogen by volume, “without any trace of methane.”
“Part of the breakthrough was the absence of methane, which eliminates an additional costly step. If methane were present it would have required additional separation and hydrogen harvestation,” says McClelland.
McClelland believes that NanoLogix has discovered the most likely method for low cost production of massive quantities of hydrogen.
After last year’s study results were revealed the Company signed a feasibility study with the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering of Gannon University in Erie, PA to develop a bioreactor that utilizes NanoLogix’s intellectual assets. The project team compromises a distinguished cohort of scientists and university professors who share a common vision.
In July of last year NanoLogix signed an agreement to generate hydrogen from a ‘scale-up’ bioreactor system installed at Mobilia Fruit Farms in rural Pennsylvania utilizing waste organic matter from the farm’s Arrowhead Wines unit.
An even bigger scale-up agreement, to install a hydrogen generation system using Welch Food’s waste organic matter, followed shortly. Welch, of course, is the world’s leading producer of grape and other fruit-based food products, giving NanoLogix virtually unlimited scale-up access to the waste-organics that McClelland believes will ultimately become the unlimited energy source of tomorrow.
McClelland is hopeful that these first scale-up installations will provide valuable data for engineering future systems. “We are clearly excited with the opportunity to demonstrate conclusively that the microbial production of hydrogen is efficient, inexpensive and can meet the increasing demand of both the industrial and commercial marketplaces,” states McClelland. “
03/03/06 » 8:55 pm »
Dear Eco-chick,
Very interesting. Would you like to know the historical and psychological basis for your political views? Would would like to know the meaning of life?
http://www.moshiak.com
03/04/06 » 1:18 am »
Nice, I hadn’t heard of these. They look really good, and are definitely not obvious solar panels at all. I for one like the idea of ‘advertising’ that I have solar panels on my house (well, I don’t yet, but I will when I can afford them) but methinks this is where the future is headed.
03/06/06 » 9:21 pm »