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Sunday, December 24, 2006

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Okay, so I'm about an hour early, but I really ought to get more sleep. I hope to get some more posts up in the coming vacation days.

Enjoy yourselves

Friday, December 22, 2006

Solar Cells Break 40% Efficiency Barrier

Article at the Department of Energy

Yes, this was posted on Slashdot a few weeks ago, but it is nonetheless exciting news. Traditional solar panels just capture white light straight up. The idea behind these new panels are the many layers sandwiched in the panel, each capturing a color in the spectrum. This technology, however, is not new. It has been around for decades, but scientists are constantly looking for ways to improve them.

One of the factors holding back solar panels is that they don't produce enough electricity (and therefore save you enough money) to justify the costs of installing the solar panels and the equipment to regulate the electricity generated. As solar panel efficiency improves, however, they will become a more competitive source of electricity. No pollution, little maintenance, basically free electricity - what more could you ask for?

Admittedly, there are some troubles with solar power. Obviously, electricity can only be generated when there is sunlight. Also, power companies may like the fact that they could set up fields of these panels to soak up sunlight, but may not be too thrilled when private individuals start installing them on their roofs to produce their own electricity.

Any thoughts?

Mission Statement

After a full 12 hours of contemplation, I've decided to turn this blog into a source of Alternative Energy news, tips on energy conservation and efficiency, and occasionally neat things I encounter while roaming the Internet (or the real world).

But first, I must say I really like the Blogger.com interface; it's really easy set up a spiffy-looking page and start spilling my guts to the entire world.

Stay tuned for posts that actually have real content.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

This is exciting!

This is exciting! My very own blog. I will now commence wasting time on the Internet when I should be doing real work.

I suppose I should come up with a topic for this blog. I'll formulate a plan within the next few days...probably something along the lines of alternative energies, random tech bits, and some insight into my utterly dry and boring life. Stay tuned.