Sun blows against reality

I am a proponent of most alternative energies on the grounds of replacing limited fossil fuel sources and alternative energy's lower environmental impact. My global opinion on the subject can be read here. One issue that restricts alternative energy's growth is cost. These technologies are not cheap to implement. In an effort to offset the high cost, government subsidies are often given to wind and solar companies. This may seem fine, but when the political winds change, these mostly startup operations run into serious cash flow issues from the simple fact that they can not turn a profit on their high investments into equipment and talent.

This CNNMoney.com article warns of the expiring subsidies the US federal government has been giving to both wind and solar companies.

After years of rapid growth and darling status among many in Washington, the future of the American renewable energy industry is uncertain. That's because the government cash it has come to rely on may dry up on Dec. 31.

Before the Great Recession, renewable energy developments were helped by a tax credit, worth generally 30% of the cost of the project. When the recession hit, the stimulus package replaced those tax credits with direct cash grants of similar value.

Cash is considered more beneficial than credit to the industry.

So far, the government has handed out about $5.4 billion, according to the Energy Department.

Congress could vote to extend the grants, but that's highly unlikely.

$5.4 billion is a lot of money to be spending on technologies that may be abandoned from lack of interest. Those companies most likely will not survive without the stimulus money. Money thrown down a hole. What saddens me further is this is a repeat of the solar boom/bust that occurred in the 1970's. This is a demonstration of why socialism does not work on a large scale, the government's central planning is not efficient and is often driven by politics, not market reality. Do we ever learn?

What to do? The stark reality is these alternative energy technologies are not yet ready for prime time in the capitalist market place. Reality trumps a naive, orthodox environmental ideology. This should not be an excuse to fully abandon them though. As a supporter of these alternative energies, I believe we need to spend more money (government and private) on research and development (R&D) of these technologies. Develop them to the point where they can compete with the more traditional fossil fuel and companies will be able to turn a profit. The secondary benefit would be a revitalization of US R&D and industry.

This lesson should not be forgotten when the true energy crisis strikes, the exhaustion of crude oil.

Oil and water solar power

One main topic of this blog concerns energy and the issues facing our modern society. In a previous post, the real future energy crisis, I discuss how coal could supply the US electricity demand for the next 200 years. The downside to using coal are air pollution and the destructive effects of coal mining. This post will investigate a recent solar cell development that is promising and put it into context with the current overall solar power picture.

First of all, I am going to mention a few facts about solar power without giving citations giving an overall general view of the solar industry.

1. Solar power is relatively new in large scale implementation. It has been used in niche applications for decades, but using the technology for large scale applications is still experimental.

2. Solar power is truly an environmentally less destructive alternative in comparison to all fossil fuels generation methods.

3. Solar power is not a very dense energy source. If we put solar plants covering every square inch of available land and on top of roofs, we still would not have our energy demands satisfied.

4. Finally, solar systems do not generate energy consistently around the clock. The sun sets and generation stops. On cloudy days, the amount of electricity generated also drops significantly.

5. Even when solar systems are generating electricity using current technology, the cost per unit is significantly higher than all other traditional forms of generation including fossil fuel, hydroelectric and nuclear based systems.

Here is my beef with solar power, the amount of money and effort that a society would pour into solar power would not be beneficial with the current solar technology. No current technology commercially available (Si solar cells, thin film or concentrators) has high energy yield at low cost. The price per kiloWatt is significantly higher than conventional electricity production. Large scale solar implementation will end up bankrupting us, while failing to achieve our energy goals. For solar to be viable, the overall manufacturing and system construction costs will have to drop significantly. Construction is a fixed cost, but manufacturing could be significantly reduced. The only way to achieve a significant reduction in solar cost would be through the research and development of new solar technology resulting in high yield, low cost solar energy process.

One interesting solar technical development comes from the University of Minnesota with self-assembled solar cells. The BBC reports that researchers have used self-assembly to organize Si onto a substrate patterned with Au for electrical connections. Self-assembly is a process that uses hydrophilic (water compatible) and hydrophobic (water incompatible) substances like vinegar and oil. The two are immiscible with each other separating upon mixing. In the case of self-assembly, separates into desired patterns or configurations. It appears as if the scientists have devised a way to self-assemble working solar cells. One technical advantage is mentioned in the article.

"Self-assembly is probably the best method for integrating high-performance materials onto unconventional substrates," he told BBC News.

The method tackles what Dr Parviz said is the most challenging problem - the proper alignment of thousands of parts, each thinner than a human hair. But it also works with the highest-performance materials, he said.

"For example, this method allows one to use single-crystal silicon, which is far superior to other types of silicon for making solar cells."

High yield devices could be produced with greater electrical conversion than current Si solar cells. The other advantage comes from low cost substrates significantly reducing the overall manufacturing cost. Further development of this idea would result in a high yield, low cost solar system. Before we start dumping money into the professor's group, the article only briefly touches upon the amount of development before a final manufactured product will come to market. It will be years. Investing in that kind of development would be a good investment in our energy future.