Solar film cells are getting a lot of attention because they address the biggest issue with solar energy: cost. The development of this technology has take great strides in recent years because they are cheaper to manufacture than traditional solar panels. Thin film solar panels are what you would find in a solar calculator, and this technology is being expanded into panels for large residential and commercial use. Global Solar Energy, for example, recently installed a 750 kilowatt array that provides 25% of factory’s power needs.

There several technologies that exist that fall under the solar film heading:

1. Amorphous or Thin Film Silicon. This technology uses the same science that is found in the rectangular solar panels we are seeing more and more of in the world. Instead of using hard crystalline silicon that must be encased in tempered glass and aluminum frames like normal solar panels, the silicon is deposited on a flexible piece of metal or plastic and then coated. This technology is generally less efficient, but much cheaper to make. To produce the same amount of energy as a traditional solar panel, you would need 30-50% more surface area of thin film silicon solar.

2. Cadmium Telluride. This technology is less popular than thin film silicon for several reasons. While it is more cost-effective to manufacture, it is less efficient than silicon. Additionally, the materials in these cells tend to be toxic, leading to concerns about the manufacturing process and the long term environmental effects of the cells. Studies are being done as we speak to investigate the long term toxicity of cadmium telluride since the economics of the technology are very attractive. Typical efficiencies for these cells are around 15%. This means that 15% of the total energy that fell on the cell was converted to electricity.

3. CIGS. CIGS is an acronym for’copper indium gallium (di)selenide’ (see why we call it CIGS?). CIGS cells have the most promise for bringing down the cost of solar since the economics AND efficiencies are very promising. In 2005, the National REnewable Energy Lab achieved a world record 19.9% efficiency for a CIGS cell. This means that 19.9% of the total energy that fell on the cell was converted to electricity. This is approaching the world record for a common solar panel of 24.7%. This very exciting because manufacturers anticipate the cost of mass-produced thin film cells to be around $1.00/watt. Common silicon solar panels we are used to seeing are close to $5.00/watt. Companies such as Shell, Nanosolar, and Honda are investing heavily in this technology. Nanosolar is particularly interesting in that is has the backing of Silicon Valley venture capital and the Google founders. They are in the process of building a massive manufacturing facility and claim that they will produce solar cells at 1/10th the cost of current cells. Very exciting.

by: Kriss Bergethon

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So far as we can see, on the scientific horizon at least, they wont be replaced either by some such method as zero point energy, which is energy created by the mechanical oscillations of quantum particles…Sound like science fiction ? Well, so far, yes it is still in the realms of science fiction and if it were possible today, would be hugely expensive to produce. But don’t despair, because In 1989 two chemists, Pons and Flieschman conducted an experiment and claimed to have determined a process of cold fusion. Fusion is a process that happens in the heart of stars, while fission is something that occurs in nuclear reactors. Both very big and at least one, very expensive! Neither a viable option for sole domestic use.

Anyway, Pons and Flieschman rocked the world when they published the results of an experiment they conducted that produced energy, namely heat, at room temperature by using some noble materials and heavy water, through a process of fusion, which generated heat from a sustainable source at room temperature. It wasn´t until the end of April that year when the experiment was conducted by independent bodies, that they were unable to achieve the same claimed results as Dr´s Pons and Flieschman. The process was deemed flawed and the two chemists were discredited and that, by and large, was the end of the matter. The two chemists were, as far as their careers were concerned, finished and they faded into obscurity. Pons and Flieschman committed the cardinal sin of the scientific world by releasing the results to the press first instead of their scientific piers for review. Tut tut tut, off to scientist hell, never to return again!

However, twenty years on, research is still being carried out and there have been some promising results, not just with cold fusion but with hot fusion also. Hot fusion has had more media coverage, probably because it doesn’t attempt to side line conventional physics. Phenomenal heat, Phenomenal pressure, incredible amounts of money and wallah, fusion! Cold fusion on the other hand requires a glass beaker, some deuterium, palladium, heavy water. Now this, I am led to believe, is an atomic reaction and not a chemical reaction and as such may or may not produce a rise in temperature of a few points of a degree over a couple or so weeks, depending on impurities and how it is measured. Non the less, there have been significant advances in researching cold fusion that some serious companies have invested some serious money in its continued research.

Before you clasp your hands in delight at the thought of having a particle colliding, atom smashing, deuterium and palladium guzzling cold/hot fusion reactor at the bottom of the garden, you may want to consider some readily available, non-controversial alternatives to supplying you with electricity.

Wind Turbines

40 of the electricity a household uses in a year.

Costs for installing a solar electricity system vary a lot – an average system costs between £8,000 and £20,000, depending on its size and type. The more electricity the system can generate, the more it costs but the more it could save. Solar tiles cost more than conventional panels, panels built into a roof are more expensive than those that sit on top but, if you need major roof repairs, PV tiles can offset the cost of roof tiles.

Savings can be considerable – around 1.2 tonne of CO2 a year, and around £250 off your electricity bill. A 2.5 kWp system could provide 50% of a household’s yearly electricity needs.

Maintenance is generally small – you’ll need to keep the panels relatively clean and make sure trees don’t begin to overshadow them.

This article has barely scratched the surface of what is available to enable the home owner to produce their own electricity, there are other methods such as Hydrogen fuel cells, Bio fuel for generators, recycled cooking oil for generators…and so on.

However, implementing these technologies is pointless unless your home is adequately insulated first.

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WWF, the international conservation group has issued a warning that we have already lost 40% of reefs in the Coral Triangle, and unless world makes quick action to curb emissions this number will be significantly bigger in years to come. What people fail to see the importance of corals, and the possible consequences of what is gonna happen if world’s largest coral reefs get destroyed.

The worst possible scenario includes hunger for hundred of millions of people across south-east Asia. These people rely on fish for food, and without coral reefs there won’t be fish either, and hunger will rule the lives of many people. Such scenario could happen by the end of the century because changes are so drastic that even scientists were surprised with current data.

System is changing very quickly, and world has in the last 40 years lost 40 percent of coral reefs and mangroves, and what is even more alarming these changes happened with only a 0.7 degree temperature increase. So you can imagine what’s going to happen if we pass two degree Celsius temperature increase, or God forbid even more.

The importance of Coral Triangle is really immense. The Coral Triangle contains a third of all the world’s coral, and three-quarters of its coral reef species. Sadly problems with oceans have been neglected on global political scale. We seem to be forgetting that oceans absorb large quantities of CO2 that would instead end up in atmosphere, and cause even bigger climate change impact. If we continue with our emissions and pollution oceans will lose their productivity. Without oceans productivity world will really have no chance to tackle global warming and climate change. Our oceans need us but we need them much more.

To understand how mankind can counter global warming, we must understand what brought it about. There are several holes in the ozone layer, caused by gases emitted from the Earth’s atmosphere and rising into the atmosphere. These gases have been caused by the use of certain noxious chemicals, some of which were used in agricultural. One of them in particular, Methyl Bromide, has largely been banned from use. Another minor cause in temperature and climate changes is the use of aerosol sprays, which might seem petty and innocuous, has had some effect, scientist say. However the principal gases being emitted into the atmosphere are from industry and vehicle exhaust systems.

Only very recently has the United States Government begun to realize how much these factors have affected the situation. However the realization among all of us is that it will take years if not decades to put and end t o the emission of gases. This can only be achieved through a gradual transition to cleaner energy.

In the meantime, mankind will have to live with the catastrophic effects that these temperature and climate changes are bringing upon us.

Natural disasters are becoming a much more common place, the most prominent example being the Indian Ocean Tsunami that occurred in 2004, causing the deaths or more than 300,000 people and destruction of property at a tremendous scale. Hurricanes and typhoons over the last few years have been increasingly frequent and more violent, again at great cost to lives and property.

However, temperature and climate changes have become a silent killer, due to acute shortages of water being felt all over the World, Drinking water is increasingly short of supply as well as water for agriculture to supply the most basic foods for the starving millions.

Great efforts are being made to increase water supplies through desalination and waste water treatman , but it may be a case of too little too late to save many millions of people who are slowly starving to death.  If and when mankind succeeds in reversing the changes in our weather patterns caused by temperature and climate changes, only then can their situation improve.

However, the negative impacts of the greenhouse effect on the World’s climate change are being observed already through the overall effect in constant annual temperature increases.

Overall the effects of global warming have proved to be disturbing, a prominent example is the increasing levels of acidity being detected in sea water due to increased evaporation levels. This could trigger off a long term reaction that could bring catastrophic effects on the marine food chain.

Changes to the polar ice packs and glaciers are occurring on an ongoing basis, and scientific evidence has proven that these areas are warming up at a much more rapid rate than the global average. The frightening statistic is temperatures in the far north have by between 5-7 degrees Celsius in the last 50 years. No need to say that if the greenhouse effect continues at this level then we can expect a catastrophe of global promotions, and sometime within the next twenty to fifty years.

Rainfall has decreased dramatically over the last decade, with drought conditions being felt in Western Australia and the deep south of America, where just a few years ago this situation was unheard of.

Shortages of drinking water has become a way of life for billions throughout the World, and with populations rising, this will soon reach epidemic proportions.
Water for agriculture is also in increasingly short supply due to the greenhouse effect, bringing with it shortage of the most basic food supplies.

There is no doubt that the greenhouse effect has changed our lives, and will affect the lives of our children and our grandchildren even more so. Awareness of the problem is in the increase and technological advances may go a long way to curtailing it in the future. Let us hop for our future that mankind will be able to halt if not reverse the damage being done to the World’s climate through the greenhouse effect.

The motorcycle, known as Green Speed Air Powered Motorcycle, is based on an old Suzuki GP100 from the 1970s. The designers removed pretty much everything on the original bike, the petrol tank, the engine, gear box, etc., and just used the frame of the bike, its wheels and brakes.

The engine is compact, lightweight and powerful and runs on compressed air from two compressed air tanks on the bike. It revs up to 10,000 RPM, and because of this the inventors didn’t need any gear box on the bike. There is only one gear, which is just a sprocket bolted directly to the axis of the engine and chained to the rear wheel. Compressed air is stored in the bike’s on-board carbon fiber tanks. Once mass produced, the bike will have solar panels that will generate enough energy to compress air and store it in the bike’s tanks, which will increase its range indefinitely.

As the bike was designed as a speed record setter, there is no headlight, brake light or indicator lights on the bike.