Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have made a three-dimensional photovoltaic solar cell around an optical fibre, a revolutionary new approach that could pave the way for a new generation of hyper-flexible solar systems.

According to team-leader Professor Zhong Lin Wang, “Using this technology, we can make photovoltaic generators that are foldable, concealed and mobile. Optical fibre could conduct sunlight into a building’s walls where the nanostructures would convert it to electricity. This is truly a three dimensional solar cell.”

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But this is just the beginning. SOLARIG has a more global vision.

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One universal difficulty is the continuing cost gap between renewable and fossil fuels. Creating an incentive program that works within the prevailing market - even a heavily regulated one - without interfering with normal market operation is very difficult when the price points are so far apart. Internalizing some of the costs of burning fossil fuels would help close that gap, and that is what cap-and-trade is all about: promote and subsidize clean energy and put downward pressure (both economically and through command and control) on dirtier fuels.

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Despite President Obama’s call for the United States to lead the clean energy technology industry, a weak climate bill (H.R. 2454) awaiting the Senate to return from recess promises limited funding for research and development of renewable clean energy technologies.

Asia, however, has recognized the advantages of embracing clean energy development and the race for clean energy dominance is heating up faster than the planet. Here’s a look at the development of clean energy technology in the some of the world’s developing Asian economies.

1. Kunming - China’s “Solar City”

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Exciting developments are occurring in solar PV (photovoltaic) power generation. New technologies are improving manufacturing processes. Thin-film and organic (plastic) films promise to reduce PV power cost. Solar “grid-parity,” the time when solar power will cost the same as fossil fuel power, is coming soon. 

PV refers to devices that turn sunlight into electricity. In a previous post, I discussed generation by solar thermal (Solar Thermal: The Other Solar Energy). Both schemes have advantages and disadvantages.

PV can turn solar energy into electricity that can supply households and industry without using any moving parts. Since mechanical devices are less reliable than electronic, these systems are nearly maintenance free. Solar Thermal requires a heat engine, such as a steam engine, and an electrical mechanical generator to produce electricity.

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An Italian company has announced plans to install the world’s largest rooftop solar photovoltaic plant, with an energy capacity equivalent to the power needs of 5,000 households.

Solon SE will establish the facility at its Padua warehouse and truck-loading complex, generating an output of up to 15 megawatts when the sun is at its brightest.

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Major US renewables company Astonfield is set to invest a massive $2 billion in India over the next five years, the largest single cash-injection in renewable energy ever seen in the sub-continent.

The deal will generate about 1,000 MW of power, most of it from solar sources.

Much of the proposed $2 billion investment will go towards building solar-photovoltaic powered projects with a capacity of 500 MW.

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DARPA, the U.S. military’s chief high-tech office, is looking for a few good photovoltaics. Not just any garden variety solar panels, mind you.  The agency is soliciting proposals for Low-Cost Lightweight Portable Photovoltaics (PoP) that can stand up to battle conditions and environmental extremes while delivering high power conversion efficiency.  Think backpacks with built-in solar capacity, with teeth.

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Move over Sydney Opera House, the city’s major drama company is all set to go green.

Two months ago, the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) embarked on a major program to transform The Wharf, its much-loved home on Sydney Harbour, into a unique demonstration of how buildings, even heritage-listed ones, can be made more sustainable. A whopping $1.2m (Australian dollars) was committed through the Australian government’s Green Precincts Fund, to assist the Company’s Greening The Wharf project.

A few days ago, the company announced that it will install a large capacity photo voltaic array as a key initiative of the program. The installation of the 2,000 solar panels will be erected on the roof of The Wharf of the Sydney Harbour-based company, along with energy saving measures, and will reduce STC’s power drawn from the grid by up to 70 per cent. It is the first renewable energy project of its kind by any major theater company.

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There’s an electric car revolution underway in sleepy Browntown, Wisconsin, population 252.

More than six Sebring-Vanguard CitiCars, many zipping down the country roads in southwestern Wisconsin, are registered to owners in this small town – most to Phil Welty and one to myself.  They come in red, yellow and several other colors and look like a wedge of cheese, but they’re all completely powered by electric motors.  It’s estimated that as few as 600 CitiCars are still on the road in the U.S. with less than 3,000 manufactured by Sebring-Vanguard between 1974 and 1976 during the last energy crisis.

“When I first saw the CitiCars back in the 1970s, it was the only all-electric car on the market,” recalls Phil Welty,  “The same problem exists today as in the 1970s, like high fuel prices and our marriage to foreign oil.  I’ve always wanted to bring one back from the junkyard and restore it to fully operable condition.”  Not content with just one, he has two CitiCars on the road, using his other cars for parts.

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When we start talking about fossil fuels, most of us immediately think of coal, oil, and natural gas. But in the developing world where many people have little to no access to electricity — or even in places that do but have regular issues with outages — these are all secondary to kerosene.

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Here’s how to thrive in the abundance of renewable energy, organic food and a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle. While not all frugality rules, this approach to living more sustainably does require some degree of curtailment, scaling down and living within our means.  It means using credit cards less and relying on community members or family more.  However, the result can be a rich life filled with health and well-being, friends and family, more time to do the things you love to do (imagine that!), a greater sense of purpose, and, my favorite, happiness.

Below are a few suggestions to get you started or continue your journey.  Please add some of your own in the comments.  Maybe some of the BIG banks or BIG government folks might take notice that a few ideas do not involve printing and spending trillions of dollars to “spur consumption.”

•  Powering the renewable energy revolution

Times couldn’t be better for installing your own renewable energy system or improving your energy efficiency of your home or business (or both!), depending on the state you live in.  The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 extended the Energy Policy Act of 2005. These new acts extend and expand the federal tax credits available for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements made in 2009 and beyond.  There are numerous renewable energy cash-back incentives, tax credits and low interest loans that can help ease the transition from a fossil-fuel based economy to one that thrives on solar income.  Check out the Database for State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (www.dsireusa.org) to see what’s available in your state.

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France

The vast majority of the electricity generated in France comes from its 59 nuclear reactors. It has not been considered a global leader in renewable energy, but France has taken some bold steps recently to support growth in this industry.

The government plans to have 23% of its electricity generated from renewable energy sources including hydroelectric by 2020. A feed-in tariff of 30 Euro cents for commercial buildings has been introduced to encourage solar energy growth.

France now exceeds Denmark in wind energy capacity after adding 950 MW in 2008. The country currently has 3,400 MW of wind power and plans to increase this to 25,000 MW by 2020.

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A loan guarantee of $535 million will go to Solyndra Inc., which will expand its production of photovoltaic systems in Fremont, Calif. The money will cover 75 percent of the project costs but will yield up to 15 gigawatts of electricity and save some 300 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Oh, it will also produce thousands of new construction, manufacturing and installation jobs. That’s thousands of green jobs, y’all.

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Chemical maker DuPont (NYSE:DD) said this week it expects to triple its photovoltaic sales to $1 billion annually by 2012.

The increase will come as the market for solar power increases and the company boosts its own ability to produce solar cells, company officials said during the Jefferies 7th Global Clean Technology Conference.

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According to a new study conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, The average installed costs for photovoltaic cells (in real 2007 dollars) went down from $10.50-per-watt in 1998, to $7.60-per-watt in 2007.

What’s most amazing about this report is that it appears to validate a whole slew of state and local solar initiatives. The researchers found that—despite the many, many reported advances to solar cell efficiency—most of the savings during this nine year period came from reductions to installation and external hardware costs.

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Sun Well Solar—a subsidiary of the notoriously poor CD and DVD manufacturer, CMC Magnetics—has announced today that it is one month ahead of schedule in the ramp-up of its new photovoltaic production line.

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Massachusetts based solar upstart Konarka has developed a low cost thin-film solar material that may one day revolutionize solar power. 

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