iMechanica - Sir Richard Branson - Comments

photosynthesis for photovoltaics

Mike Ciavarella — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 07:14:18 -0400

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207403402

Researchers claim photovoltaic cell advance

Amir Ben-Artzi
EE Times Europe
(04/30/2008 7:59 AM EDT)

NETANYA, Israel — Scientists at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel claim
they have found a way to construct efficient photovoltaic cells costing at
least a hundred times less than conventional silicon based devices, and with
similar or better energy conversion efficiency.
The reactive element in the researchers' patent pending device is
genetically engineered proteins using photosynthesis for production of
electrical energy.

The scientists applied genetic engineering and nanotechnology for the
construction of a hybrid nano -- bio, solid state device. According to the
researchers, although using photosynthesis for photovoltaic application is
not new, their specific technique is the first to enable the production of
useful photosynthesis-based photovoltaic cells.

The Israeli team is set to challenge others who are using photosynthesis for
photovoltaic cells, including universities such as Cambridge in the U.K.,
and Stanford, M.I.T, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, and the
Universities of Tennessee and Arizona in the U.S, and several others.

The researchers suggest existing silicon based photovoltaic cells offer low
average energy conversion efficiency of 12-14 percent, while their system is
capable of efficiencies of about 25 percent. They based their photovoltaic
device on genetically engineered dry proteins photosystem I (PS I),
encapsulated in solid state substrate bottom metal and a top transparent
electrode.

They also claim that PS I generates a stable charge separation in 200 ns
across 6 nm of protein to generate an electric potential of 1 V with quantum
efficiency of 1 and absorbed energy conversion efficiency of 47 percent. A
further advantage of PS I is said to be its transparency to infrared
radiation, which eliminates the need for expensive cooling equipment.

The researchers include Prof. Chanoch Carmeli, Dr. Shachar Richter, Dr. Itai
Carmeli and Prof. Yossi Rosenwaks. Ramot, Tel Aviv University s technology
transfer company, is set to help commercialize the invention.

Larry Loev, director of business development for high technologies at Ramot
told EETimes the low cost of the proposed device is based on the low cost of
PS I in comparison to silicon. While one square meter of PS I should cost
around $1, a similar area made of silicon should cost around $200.

"We connected our device to electrodes and we saw how it converts light to
electricity," said Loev.

EETimes Europe has learned that Ramot will probably use the industrial
facilities of solar energy specialist Millennium Electric T.O.U Ltd.
(Ra anana, Israel) for making prototype devices, including engineering of
the prototype up scaling, automation of production and the integration of
the university's photovoltaic cell with other components in the final
device. Ramot aims to develop a cost effective device of 10mm X 10mm in size
within three years.

Asked about the competition, Loev claimed: "Certainly many researchers are
looking into how to use photosynthesis to create photovoltaic cells.
However, a deeper look at what has been published shows major differences
between what our group has achieved and the rest. First, ours is the only
group to utilize an organic material in a dry and stable environment.

"Other groups have only done this under aqueous conditions which are much
less robust. Second, we are able to directly metallize the protein and make
good electronic coupling to the electrodes. Other groups have utilized
intermediate polymers for this purpose, which is a very complicated
procedure. Third, we have demonstrated multilayer capability, which is
crucial to getting good efficiency."

more from Al GORE

Mike Ciavarella — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:51:27 -0400

Carbon-free electricity in the U.S. in ten years – Al Gore’s Kennedyian challenge requires a different perspective on economics.

da Leonardo ENERGY - The Global Community for Sustainable Energy Professionals di Hans Nilsson

Al Gore has challenged his fellow Americans,
or rather their future leaders (see footnote), to take on the task of
producing 100% of their electricity from renewable and truly clean,
carbon-free sources within 10 years. The challenge is deliberately
formatted similarly to the one John Kennedy made to put a man on the
moon within a decade, but it is also a very political text in the sense
that Mr. Gore provides a backdrop describing the failure of the
American economy as it looks today.

Tomas Friedman spells out this failure even more clearly in his column in The NY Times, quoting a Texan proverb that he claims is summing up the energy policy of the Bush era: “If all you ever do is all you’ve ever done, then all you’ll ever get is all you ever got.”

Huge Eu45bn plan from ESOF in Barcellona - take SAHARA power!

Mike Ciavarella — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:23:46 -0400

Imechanica friends, we should ALL move to energy research -- here is a 45bn euro plan (I repeat, 45 billions euro) presented today at ESOF in Barcellona!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/22/solarpower.windpower

Vast farms of solar panels in the Sahara desert could provide clean electricity for the whole of Europe, according to EU scientists working on a plan to pool the region's renewable energy.

Green sources such as wind energy in the UK and Denmark and geothermal energy from Iceland and Italy.

The idea is gaining growing political support in Europe with both Gordon Brown and Nicholas Sarkozy recently giving backing to the north African solar plan.

DG-JRC's Institute for Energy

The idea of developing solar farms in the Mediterranean region and north Africa was given a boost recently by French president Nicholas Sarkozy earlier this month when he highlighted solar farms in north Africa as a key part of the work of his newly-formed Mediterranean Union.

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist, welcomed the proposals. "Assuming it's cost-effective, a large scale renewable energy grid is just the kind of innovation we need if we're going to beat climate change. Europe needs to become a zero-carbon society as soon as possible, and that will only happen with bold new ideas like this one. Tinkering with 20th-century technologies like coal and nuclear simply isn't going to get us there."

The JRC at ESOF 2008

Starting Friday, July 18 in Barcelona, the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) 2008 features a strong presence by the JRC, with five scientific sessions by JRC scientists as well as a number of high profile science-related communication activities.

JRC staff from Institute for Health and Consumer Protection will explain recent advances made in the scientific and technological field of nanotechnology, focusing on the implications for human health in terms of potential benefits as well as associated risks.
JRC-Institute for Energy staff will explain the significant potential of renewable energies in the Mediterranean countries to help address today's energy and environment-related challenges.
Scientists from the JRC Institute for Transuranium Elements will explain their evolving role in the international effort to combat proliferation and illicit nuclear trafficking.
JRC Institute for Prospective Technological Studies staff will moderate a symposium on the technological and socioeconomic perspectives of animal cloning as well as presenting the ERAWATCH network's contribution to the realisation of the European Research Area (ERA).
Lastly but not least, JRC Director General, Dr Roland Schenkel will give a joint presentation with the CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Dr Alan Leshner, on the subject of European and American views and uses of science.

Dott. Giovanni De Santi, director of the JRC, also speaks in Barcelona.

The JRC plan includes fuel cells and hydrogen, clean coal, second-generation biofuels, nuclear fusion, wind, nuclear fission and smart grids. De Santi said it was designed to help Europe to meet its commitments to reduce overall energy consumption by 20% by 2020 while reducing CO2 emissions by 20% in the same time and increasing to 20% the proportion of energy generated from renewable sources.

High-voltage transmission lines
High-voltage direct current - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

First developed in the 1930s, High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines are seen as the most efficient way to move electricity over long without incurring the losses experienced in normal AC power lines. HVDC cables can carry more power for the same thickness of cable compared with AC lines but are only suited to long-distance transmission because they require expensive devices called static inverters to convert the electricity, usually generated as AC, into DC. Modern HVDC cables can keep energy losses down to around 3% per 1,000km.

Another advantage of HVDC is that it can be used as a link to transfer electricity between different countries that might use AC systems at differing frequencies. Alternatively, the HVDC cables could be used to synchronise the AC currents produced by renewable energy sources such as wind turbine farms.

Some useful background reading on this... from ScienceBlogs

Mike Ciavarella — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:26:18 -0400

Are biofuels a core climate solution?

Category:
Posted on: July 16, 2008 4:23 PM, by Joe Romm

In
order to know whether biofuels could be a major climate solution, the
scale of low-carbon energy deployment needed to avert climate
catastrophe must be understood.

According to the Latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, if
carbon emissions average 11 billion tons a year (GtC/yr) this century,
then carbon cycle feedbacks will probably take us to atmospheric
concentrations of 1000 ppm of carbon dioxide and some 5.5°C warming from preindustrial levels. And I think we can probably all agree that is the end of life on this planet as we know it
with the loss of the inland glaciers that provide water to a billion
people, widespread desertification for up to one third of the planet,
loss of most species on land and sea, and ultimately an ice free planet
with sea levels up to 250 feet higher.

Unfortunately, unless we sharply reverse national and global energy
policy, we'll be over 11 GtC/yr in 2020. So what would it take to then
freeze at 11 GtC/yr for most of the rest of the century? It would
require 11 of Princeton's "stabilization wedges"
-- strategies and/or technologies that over a period of a few decades
each reduce global carbon emissions by one billion metric tons per year
from projected levels. Click to enlarge the figure.

SEE THE ORIGINAL BLOG FOR MORE DETAILS AT THE LINKS:

Are biofuels a core climate solution?

original August 2004 Science article on the wedges:

http://www.epa.gov/chp/documents/biomass_chp_catalog_part5.pdf