Has anyone kept up with Alan Heegers work? He wont the Nobel prize for Physics a few years ago and now has a cheap thin film plastic solar cell they claim to get many times more efficieny out of versus the std high efficiency solar cells out today. They think they can create a solar paint! This I believe will ultimately be the answer to clean and renewable energy.

check it out...very promising and real

YouTube - Solar Printable Ink Yes! Solar Ink

Our salesman here talked to Alan's company and they said they are still in the R&D phase and arent ready to bring it to market.

Very interesting. Of course, the oil companies are going to buy him out and we'll never hear of it again :D

Brilliant stuff. Up until recently I have been opposed to nuclear research, but with the high hopes of controlled fusion, I am slowly changing my mind.
Solar could be a great stop gap measure in the mean time, and a supplement for remote locations.

Our salesman called the company and they said they are still in the R&D phase but should be hitting the mainstream soon.

Curious, what is the name of the company he is working with?

Very interesting. Of course, the oil companies are going to buy him out and we'll never hear of it again :D


Even they realise that the oil will run out some day. Shell, and BP are 2 of the largest solar panel producers.

Greetings,

This sounds very interesting. Thought I'd throw a reply in so i could keep my eye on the progress (email alert).

Thanks!
Mike

Curious, what is the name of the company he is working with?


http://konarka.com/

This guy isn't the only one working on this type of thin solar material. I found this site a few months back.

The links below have videos you can watch.

They are printing this stuff with ink, very cool!

http://nanosolar.com/index.html



Video:

1) http://nanosolar.com/cache/CNNvideo.wmv

2) http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/399


.

Even they realise that the oil will run out some day. Shell, and BP are 2 of the largest solar panel producers.


:)The only reason shell and BP are involved is that plastic is made from oil:)

TotallyRC-
You don't believe the latest BP TV commercials here in the US that infer that BP stands for "Beyond Petroleum”? :)

NEATman

TotallyRC-
You don't believe the latest BP TV commercials here in the US that infer that BP stands for "Beyond Petroleum”? :)

NEATman

Yes I do, they are setting themselves up to monopolize what ever comes after petroleum. But first they will make a fortune using up the rest of the petroleum make stuff to save us from it.

Mike

I cant wait until the nations of the world dont have to rely on oil from the UAE and OPEC. They use it as a weapon and it cripples economies and causes major issues with humanity. Its simplistic greed over a broad market spectrum.

The products that are possible from nanosolar are very exciting. It is my understanding that they do not need the plastic (silicone wafer) base that traditional solar cells require. They circuit can be printed on a metallic base. This frees up many more possibilities for their use. Metal roofing, siding, car bodies, etc... All at 1/10th of the price of traditional solar panels. It is supposed to be equivelent to the cost of producing electicity with coal.