Apollo II News |
Record investment in new renewable energy capacity occurred in 2005—$38 billion, up from $30 billion in 2004. Germany and China were the investment leaders, with about $7 billion each, followed by the United States, Spain, Japan, and India.
"Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory have tapped the efficiencies of nanotechnology to increase solar cells' potential energy production by as much as 37 percent..." [2004 May 19/26]
"For the second time in two years, Kin Man Yu and Wladek Walukiewicz of the Materials Sciences Division, working with colleagues from Berkeley Lab and other institutions, have announced a new solar cell material that may be able to achieve extraordinary efficiency..." [2004 March 24]
"Toshiba Corporation announced a new technological breakthrough that is expected to bring about simpler, lower-cost solar cell production and significantly extended the scope of application for solar batteries. According to a company news release, it has successfully solidified the electrolyte used in organic-dye-based solar cells, ending the worries associated with liquid electrolytes. Toshiba said its cells can achieve 7.3 efficiency and be formed on a plastic substrate, opening up the way to a wide range of new applications for solar batteries." [EarthVision Environmental News, May 17, 2000]
"Power consumption has been reduced 51%." [Knight Ridder, April 3, 2000]
"Photovoltaics technology is well established as a reliable and economical source of electricity in small, scattered applications, far from urban centers. Now it is looming larger in size and public awareness." [John P. Benner & Lawrence Kazmerski, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, IEEE Spectrum, September, 1999, Volume 36, Number 9]
"As for energy payback, the conclusion in Vienna was that today's silicon technology, over a 30-year operating life, should deliver four to six times the energy consumed in manufacturing the PV system. Technology nearing production can push the factor to 10 or more." [John P. Benner, manager of the electronic materials and devices division of the National Center for Photovoltaics at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in Golden, Colo. IEEE Spectrum January 1999, Volume 36, Number 1]
"A modern Danish 600 kW wind turbine will recover all the energy spent in its manufacture, maintenance, and scrapping withing some three months of its commissioning...." [Vindmølleindustrien, Deceomber, 1997]
"What is ethanol and why should you care? Well, ethanol is a liquid fuel that can be made from all forms of biomass. While most current ethanol production comes from corn grown in the Midwest, it can also be made from cellulose, ie, trees--including your trees. Government and industry now see ethanol as the primary renewable liquid fuel for the future."
"We, the 41 Members of the European, National and Regional Parliaments, meeting in Santiago de Compostela, on renewables in the framework of the liberalisation of the European energy sector, call for a fair treatment of renewables in the internal market through the internalisation of external costs and the progressive reduction of subsidies to the conventional forms of electricity production...."
updated 2004 September 28 |
contact |