wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Peter Vaughan from Allamuchy June 27, 2008 - 11:21AM

  Copper indium gallium selenide solar cells seem to be the new kid on the block threatening to overtake conventional solar panel production due to it's efficiencies in production of electricity as well as ease of manufacturing.

  The solar panels produced by a Silicon Valley start-up company, Nanosolar, are radically different from the kind that European consumers are increasingly buying to generate power from their own roofs.

  Printed like a newspaper directly on to aluminium foil, they are flexible, light and, if you believe the company, expected to make it as cheap to produce electricity from sunlight as from coal.

  http://www.nanosolar.com/

  What do your guests know of this new type of panel?

  
  
• [2] antonio from park slope June 27, 2008 - 12:27PM

  To add to Peter's comment shouldn't we then be able to plaster this everywhere to take advantage of it?

  And, has the idea of building one huge panel or a collection of panels somewhere in one of our deserts with a kind of magnifying glass over it?

  
  
• [3] Laura from UWS June 27, 2008 - 01:03PM

  Question about government policy.

  Please explain, if appropriate to this segment:

  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/us/27solar.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1214586101-XLA8R88NyfqD5oOgHyxy9Q

  "Citing Need for Assessments, U.S. Freezes Solar Energy Projects "

  DENVER — Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.

  The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six Western states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

  . . . . .

  
  
• [4] EricF June 27, 2008 - 01:36PM

  PSE&G permits customers to choose their energy providers which may be helping solar.

  
  
• [5] EricF June 27, 2008 - 01:37PM

  solar panels absorb solar energy. any interesting potential side effects from the resulting shade?

  
  
• [6] EricF June 27, 2008 - 01:40PM

  any comments on solar energy applications that do not make electricity, or do not put electricity directly on the grid, ie, desalinization, distilation, using photovoltaics to power fuel production, etc ?

  
  
• [7] robert from NYC June 27, 2008 - 01:41PM

  everybody talks about solar panels. what about batteries accumulating converted energy. we are in middle ages with technology of these things. rs.

  
  
• [8] Matthew from Brooklyn June 27, 2008 - 01:42PM

  I believe I heard of an idea of placing a solar collector above the atmosphere in space, that could then send/beam the converted electrical energy to earth somehow

  
  
• [9] EricF June 27, 2008 - 01:42PM

  what proporation of US electic utilities currently have arrangements for buying electricity from home owner, business owners, etc who install their own solar panels? if many still don't, what's holding things up?

  
  
• [10] steveb from NJ June 27, 2008 - 01:44PM

  aren't ConEd style utilities PERECT managers

  of storage with in Fuel Cells which can make

  potable water AND in a future of water

  shortages isn't ths a viable way to go

  especially in areas like Arizona?

  
  
• [11] Michael Minn from UWS June 27, 2008 - 01:44PM

  Curious if your guests know anything about the possibility of building pumped storage facilities in NY state to store solar-generated electricity.

  
  
• [12] Jon P. from Hewitt, NJ June 27, 2008 - 01:47PM

  Solar panels have been subsidized by the government for a very long time and yet they have still not caught on. You can save all kinds of money down the road but even with government subsidies, it costs an arm and a leg to install. For that reason you really only see them on well to do houses. You have to make the process cheap, really cheap to install. If it could be painted on like paint and cost the same as paint without being subsidized by the government, you’d then have a realistic product that could be applied to all dwellings. Until then, it’s almost like a hobby for the rich since it’s out of everyone else’s short term realistic budget.

  
  
• [13] JT from Long Island June 27, 2008 - 01:47PM

  If someone is already considering soilar panels are there any advances coming in the next 2-3 years that we should wait for?

  
  
• [14] Denise Alvarez from NJ June 27, 2008 - 01:50PM

  I'd be interested to see if the guest has any information on installers who install panels in a residential application for a minimum fee, then fix the consumer's electricity cost for a certain contracted period of time (i.e., the installer receives the benefits from the net generation)?

  Interesting article in the following link, too:

  http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/06/nj_solar_program_faces_big_bac.html

  
  
• [15] Dan Black from Westfield, NJ June 27, 2008 - 02:08PM

  I have just been asked to chair a sub-committee on energy and environment for a senior citizens complex. Can you suggest some links and/or documents that would be helpful as background for this assignment? Thank you for your assistance

  Dan

  
  
• [16] Rich from Long Island June 27, 2008 - 02:36PM

  Matthew, your referring to sps (soalr power satellite). The Japanes have made some decent progress with it. It takes solar power and converts it to microwaves (other schemes propose laser) where it is then transmitted to a ground based station where it can be converted to DC power. It's gets around some solar power issues as sps is almost independent of the sunlight because the collecters are in space and the solar insolation is about 30% higher in space (~1.3kw/square meter) than in is on earth .

  
  
• [17] samla from White Plains June 27, 2008 - 03:28PM

  Last year I had a solar panel installer look at my house to see if panel installation was feasible. The house abuts a County Park and is surrounded by several large trees. He took one look and said that unless the trees came down the solar paneling would not be effective. He commented that most of the older homes in Westchester were not good candidates, and that it was generally newer construction built on open fields where solar paneling was most effective.

  
  
• [18] Rich June 27, 2008 - 10:42PM

  Dan you can start with NREL (http://www.nrel.gov/). They have a lot of useful information regarding renewable energy. It is broad in scope but it should be a good start.