Nanosolar is leading the “Third Wave” of solar power technology... The Third Wave of solar power consists of companies addressing the above shortcomings and opportunities. Most every of the new companies address one or the other of the above aspects. One company -- Nanosolar -- brings together the entire conjunction of all seven areas of innovation, each break-through in their own right, to deliver a dramatic improvement in the cost-efficiency, yield, and throughput of the production of much thinner solar cells.
They have brought together several processes which they claim will drastically reduce the cost of production, and drastically increase the rate of production. They are building a plant which should produce 430 megawatts of capacity per year.
"Cost has always been one of solar’s biggest problems. Traditional solar cells require silicon, and silicon is an expensive commodity ... Nanosolar’s cells use no silicon, and the company’s manufacturing process allows it to create cells that are as efficient as most commercial cells for as little as 30 cents a watt. In San Jose, Nanosolar has built what will soon be the world’s largest solar-panel manufacturing facility. CEO Martin Roscheisen claims that once full production starts early next year, it will create 430 megawatts’ worth of solar cells a year..."
They are the makers of the Green Revolution Engine, an "external combustion engine" which can run on "any" fuel. It turns an external source of heat into mechanical energy.
The website has some suspicious claims and it's unclear whether this is a scam operation. Consider: "It is exceptionally environment-friendly because the combustion is continuous and more easily regulated for temperature, oxidizers and fuel amount. Lower combustion temperatures and pressures create less toxic and exotic exhaust gases.... It needs no catalytic converter … no radiator … no transmission … no oil pump (and no oil … the engine is water-lubricated)." Maybe I don't understand enough of the effect of carefully controlled combustion, but it seems obvious to me that burning a fuel causes a chemical reaction and that the constituents of the fuel that's burned will inevitably turn into waste products.
"First Solar, which makes cadmium-telluride solar cells, is having one of those years that corporate managers and investors dream about." They're having great sales etc but the article asks why there aren't competitors coming into the market to make cadmium-telluride solar panels. They discuss several aspects but it appears there are two.
One is their process. "In a sense, the entire thin film solar industry is a competition around who can build a better machine. The CIGS solar cell companies will all have similar products. The difference between them lay in how they produce those cells..."
The second is that Cadmium can be toxic. Nickel-Cadmium batteries are generally banned for the same reason. This can scare people away.
VW is getting ready to collaborate with Phoenix Motorcars to build EV's in Mexico. VW has operations in Mexico which among other things build the old-style VW Bug for sale in Latin America. The old-style Bug cannot be imported to the U.S. because of emissions standards. "The plant for the venture, called Pristine International, will be built in Puebla, Mexico. It is unclear what kind of vehicles these cars will be."
A few years ago I attended a ZAP shareholders meeting at which they discussed a plan for ZAP to work with VW of Mexico. They would import gliders (engineless cars) from Mexico (made by VW) and convert them to electric drive. The thinking was that with the "New Beetle" there would be a resurgence of nostalgia for the old Beetle, and an electric Beetle would add another level of saleability. Obviously Zap never consumated the agreement, however in Zap's used car sales division they've long had one or two Beetles which had NEV characteristics. (25 miles/hr max) Since the Beetle is a four-wheeler it has to meet DOT crash safety standards but by keeping it an NEV they could sell it without going through crash testing. ZAP since started selling the Xebra under the same business model.
It's unclear from the linked article just exactly what the agreement is. However Phoenix Motorcars has expertise with LI-ION batteries and therefore can bring to market a more appealing car. They also have to have been doing crash testing on the SUV they've designed.
"A genetics company and a biodiesel refiner have formed a joint venture to see if they can cut the cost of biodiesel." These two companies obviously hope to create more together than they might otherwise. "Targeted Growth has created a version of camelina, a distant relative of canola, with seeds that produce about 20 percent more oil than seeds from conventional plants."
This is an interesting take on genetic engineering and agribusiness. Genetic engineering of food crops is causing a lot of concern about what that can mean to our food. Essentially, is our food still safe and what are the unseen unexpected side effects that will no doubt arise from genetically engineering food? I say it that way because it seems always to be the case that new developments carry with them unforeseen side effects that are less than desirable.
Genetic engineering of non-food crops may be beneficial. It ought to improve efficiency of growing these crops just as it has improved efficiency of growing food crops. However it's been observed that genetic material from these engineered crops has a way of migrating from the intended plants to other nearby plants. The pollenation process happens regardless of laws or contracts because the plants don't know a thing about any legal the farmer has signed.
The article makes it clear that Targeted Growth is requiring participating farmers to sign a license agreement that they sell their crops to Green Earth Fuels. "These farmers, in turn, will sell their output to Green Earth. Green Earth has a 90 million-gallon-a-year plant in Houston and has plans to build similar plants in the Northeastern U.S. and California....By controlling the quality and supplies of its feedstocks, Sustainable Oil, ideally, will have a more predictable and lower cost of operation. Rising prices of soybean and other agricultural oils have been cutting into the profits of biodiesel refiners."
A producer of biodiesel derived from plants. They began with soy based feedstock but appear to be transitioning to non-food crops. "Targeted Growth has expanded its crop platform to include major dicot and monocot crops....Targeted Growth’s scientific program focuses on increasing yield in commercial crops through enhanced growth and cell cylce regulation. Additionally, the company has active programs for improving the suitability of select energy crops for use as fuels by improving sugar, starch and oil profiles as well as characteristics of cell wall formation. Initial tests in Arabidopsis were succesful both in the lab and in field trials. " They list Camelina, Canola, Corn, Sorghum and Soybean as feedstocks.
