Spray-On Solar Panels - no, really

Scientists at the university of Texas, Austin have invented nanoparticle inks that can be sprayed on and function as photovoltaic cells. According to Matthew Panthani, a doctoral student working on the project, the team has made "a solution of these nanocrystals...[that can be] sprayed onto a subtrate" such as the sun facing side of a roof. The team developed inks that are made up of copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), that are 10,000 times thinner than a strand of hair.

The solar cell prototypes they've developed can convert up to 1% of the sunlight that hits the cells into electricity - their end goal is to achieve a 10% conversion rate. Furthermore, the CIGS solution is semi transparent, leading some of the scientists to conclude that the material could even be used in the production of windows so that the windows could double as solar cells.

Doing some preliminary research through the web, I almost literally stumbled upon a few other interesting technologies that are being developed :

New Energy Technologies (Symbol : NENE) announced back in May that they had developed a tinted transparent glass they have named SolarWindow, capable of generating electricity by coating glass with the world's smallest organic solar cells. For those of use geeks out there, New Energy Technologies uses an "organic solar array, which achieves transparency through the creative use of conducting polymers" (link to study here). The biggest breakthrough in this technology is its ability to generate electricity not only from the visible light spectrum (sun produced light), but also through artificial light.

Formula 1 cars have been able to translate the kinetic energy produced when braking into additional energy for some time now. What is new, however, is the application of this technology to roads. In Gloucester, U.K., a Sainsbury store has installed kinetic plates which get pushed down every time a vehicle passes over them, which then moves hydraulic pipes that drive a generated. These plates can generate up to 30kw of energy an hour, which is more than enough to power Sainsbury's checkout registers.

The most interesting aspect of the two latter technologies is their ability to "recycle" energy that's already been expended. I believe the key to technological breakthroughs in the energy space lie in making the use of our energy more efficient while simultaneously being able to recycle the energy that is used. Imagine your laptop charged its battery the more you typed, by absorbing the kinetic energy released when you type. What if the interior of our homes were lined with nanoparticles that enabled them to absorb all of the artificial light emitted once the sun sets? What if the national highways in the United States were able to absorb the kinetic energy released by the millions of cars, trucks and buses going over them every day?

Related / Source Articles :
http://isiria.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/windows-that-can-generate-electric-energy-from-sunlight-and-artificial-lighting/

http://jrse.aip.org/jrsebh/v1/i1/p013101_s1

http://printsho.station193.com/php/wordpress/archives/2009/06/15/shoppers-cars-will-soon-be-able-to-power-supermarkets/

http://www.livescience.com/technology/090824-spray-on-solar-cells.html

Public + Private Transportation Hyrbrid = Priblic?

Image via Wikipedia

Like many people on this planet, I've always thought there'd be an easier way to get to and from the airport. Public transportation is all fine and good, but it doesn't really get you from the airport to where you're going. JFK tried to deal with this transportation issue by building the airtrain - a train that connected Queens and a NYC subway line to all of JFK's terminals. The problem with the airtrain is that if you're coming from the upper east side in Manhattan, you have to switch trains three times before you get to your terminal. If you travel like I do (read: excessive luggage) we're talking a major pain in the neck, shoulders, and biceps.

I always imagined planes could be reconfigured in such a way that they turn pseudo train cars. Take off / fold up the wings, build a tunnel, and have them drop you off under grand central in a special terminal. Even that idea, as eccentric as it is, doesn't solve the problem that the drop off location isn't convenient for everyone.


Turns out that a company based out of California has suggested a new airport shuttle system for the U.K. - http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/skytrans-personal-magnetic-transporter-physical-version-Internet


Brilliant!

The future of public transportation is a hybrid of public and private transportation - it should enable you to customize a destination while still taking advantage of a public infrastructure.

A similar concept has been proposed with City Car - cars that fold into one another in the same way that shopping carts do and "stack". It would be a membership service, and "stacks" of these cars would be strategically placed in key locations in urban areas. The one way service would enable the driver to take the first car in line, and drive it one way to another "stack" where he would simply park the car and leave it for another driver.


Public Private - that's where it's at.

Some Interesting Links :
http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2007/02/18/the_car_20/?p1=MEWell_Pos5
http://cities.media.mit.edu/projects/citycar.html