Boeing Spectrolab terrestrial solar cell surpasses 40% efficiency

Boeing says its solarcell manufacturing subsidiary Spectrolab, has achieved a new world record in terrestrial concentrator solar cell efficiency. Using concentrated sunlight, Spectrolab demonstrated the ability of a photovoltaic cell to convert 40.7 percent of the sun's energy into electricity. "This solar cell performance is the highest efficiency level any photovoltaic device has ever achieved," said Dr. David Lillington, president of Spectrolab. "The terrestrial cell we have developed uses the same technology base as our space-based cells. So, once qualified, they can be manufactured in very high volumes with minimal impact to production flow."

Currently, Spectrolab's terrestrial concentrator cells are generating power in a 33-kilowatt full-scale concentrator system in the Australian desert. The company recently signed multi-million dollar contracts for its high efficiency concentrator cells and is anticipating several new contracts in the next few months.

Teenagers' gadgets : big energy wasters

peakoil.com -> planetark.org :

Teenagers in Britain who leave computer games and other gadgets on standby mode are wasting over 100 million pounds worth of energy a year, enough to power London's underground train system for 12 months, according to a survey commissioned by British Gas. Lois Hedg-Peth, Energy Director at British Gas, said : "Because of their low power consumption, these devices are often overlooked when households look for ways to save energy."

Total energy consumption of all teenagers' gadgets exceeds the annual output of the average UK nuclear reactor, or all the country's wind turbines. The wastage could be reduced by a third if teenagers were to switch appliances off rather than leave them on, British Gas said.

The origins of peak oil doomerism

energybulletin.net :

I now believe that Peak Oil catastrophism is largely a manifestation of our primary cultural myth: that all things end with suffering, death, and then resurrection. Belief in apocalypse is programmed into western civilization. Given our heritage, "the end is nigh" is the nearly unavoidable personal and collective response to times of uncertainty and rapid change.

Apocalypticism is at the core of the Judeo-Christian social mythology, and it influences our beliefs far more deeply than we are conscious of. I can hear the objections: "I'm not religious - I've never even been to church." But that's like saying, "I never studied Greece, so ancient Greek culture hasn't influenced me in any way." The idea of apocalypse, that some time soon the End Times will be upon us and all will be transformed, is one of the most fundamental tenets of that system. A look at the history and particulars of apocalypticism will show the truth of that statement, and reveals that Peak Oil catastrophism conforms to our apocalyptic myth in such detail that it is difficult to deny its role.

(2006-12-08 18:52:04 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

New oil production technology tested

peakoil.com -> science.monstersandcritics.com :

A technology developed with U.S. Department of Energy funding has revived oil production in two abandoned oilfields on Osage Indian tribal land in Oklahoma. Officials say the technology can potentially add billions of barrels of additional domestic oil production in declining fields.

The Department of Energy said production has jumped from zero to more than 100 barrels of oil daily in the two one of which is more than 100 years old. That success suggests the method might be able to revitalize thousands of other seemingly depleted U.S. oilfields. The new technology, initially proposed by Grand Resources Inc., an independent oil producer based in Tulsa, Okla., involves the use of horizontal well waterflooding.

- 100 bpd isn't that much. The Saudi's are already using horizontal wells and also water-floods. Not sure what's so new about it.

I'm tracking a couple of companies using these tertiary, or enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques on old fields. But with the trust fund bust going on in Canada due to the new upcoming tax regulations, the exit strategy of some of these companies is in doubt.

(2006-12-08 13:30:45 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Google Docs down

I tried to retrieve a spreadsheet stored on Google Docs, and promptly got an error :

Well, it's probably not reliable enough yet for critical documents that you "need right away". Or perhaps it's just a slight hiccup. We'll see.

(2006-12-08 08:13:31 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

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