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CONTACT
Edited by John L. Petersen
www.arlingtoninstitute.org
The Arlington Institute
192 E. Fairfax Street
Berkeley Springs, WV 25411
Office: 304.258.7901
Fax: 304.258.7902
ENERGY DEVELOPMENTS
• Mass Production of Plastic Solar Cells
• Fuel-Cell Power-Up
Mass Production of Plastic Solar Cells – (Technology Review – October 17, 2008)
In a significant milestone in the deployment of flexible, printed photovoltaics, Konarka, a solar-cell startup based in Lowell, MA, has opened a commercial-scale factory, with the capacity to produce enough organic solar cells every year to generate one gigawatt of electricity, the equivalent of a large nuclear reactor. Organic solar cells could cut the cost of solar power by making use of inexpensive organic polymers rather than the expensive crystalline silicon used in most solar cells. What's more, the polymers can be processed using low-cost equipment such as ink-jet printers or coating equipment employed to make photographic film, which reduces both capital and manufacturing costs compared with conventional solar-cell manufacturing.
Fuel-Cell Power-Up – (Technology Review – November/December, 2008)
A new process increases the energy output of methanol fuel cells by 50%. MIT chemical-engineering professor Paula Hammond has developed what looks like thick Saran wrap. Though it appears un-remarkable, this polymer membrane can significantly increase the power output of a methanol fuel cell, which could make that technology suitable as a lighter, longer–lasting, and more environmentally friendly alternative to batteries in consumer electronics such as cell phones and laptops....
