Australian scientists announce solar energy record

Solar cells have set new records in the past week, heading towards converting half the sunlight hitting them into electricity.

ABC Environment, 8 Dec 2014

Solar cell efficiency is nearing 50 per cent. Credit: Lena Anderson (iStockphoto)

AUSTRALIAN SCIENTISTS have set a new record in increasing the efficiency of solar panels, which they hope could eventually lead to cheaper sources of renewable energy.

In what the University of New South Wales described as a world first, the researchers were able to convert more than 40 per cent of sunlight hitting the panels into electricity.

"This is the highest efficiency ever reported for sunlight conversion into electricity," UNSW Professor Martin Green said in a statement.

"We used commercial solar cells, but in a new way, so these efficiency improvements are readily accessible to the solar industry," added Dr Mark Keevers, the UNSW solar scientist who managed the project.

While traditional methods use a single solar cell, which limits the conversion of sunlight to electricity to about 33 per cent, the newer technology splits the sunlight across four different cells, each optimised for the fraction of the sunlight they receive, which boosts the efficiency level, Green said.

The four-way solar cells can be used at the centre of a field of mirrors which are arranged to concentrate the Sun's rays. Specialised filters shuttle heat away from where it would reduce the solar cells' efficiency and towards the solar cell that can best handle the heat.

The record efficiency level was achieved in tests in Sydney and replicated at the United States government's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the university said.

Green is hopeful the technology can also eventually be used for solar panels mounted on people's roofs, which he said currently had a 15 to 18 per cent efficiency rate.

"The panels that you have on the roof of your home, at the moment they just have a single cell but eventually they'll have several different cells... and they'll be able to improve their efficiency to this kind of level," he said.

German efficiency

Meanwhile in Germany, scientists set a new record for solar cell efficiency in a laboratory setting, converting 46 per cent of light into electricity.

The scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems used a type of solar cell called a multi-junction cell, made of layers of semiconducting materials, with the record-setting cell being a four-junction cell. Each of its sub-cells converts precisely one quarter of the incoming light, including all the colours of the rainbow plus infrared light (wavelength between 300 and 1750 nm), into electricity. The light is concentrated using a kind of magnifying glass called a Fresnel lens.

The new record efficiency was measured at a concentration of 508 suns and has been confirmed by the Japanese AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), one of the leading centres for independent verification of solar cell performance results under standard testing conditions

Jocelyne Wasselin, vice president solar cell product development for Soitec, a company which partnered with the scientists said: "We are very proud of this new world record. It... clearly indicates that we can demonstrate 50 per cent efficiency in the near future."

ABC/AFP

Related Article:

This Japanese woman can reduce the price of solar energy around the world

Latin America Pledges to Reforest 20 Million Hectares by 2020

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Dec 08, 2014

Workers plant seedlings for reforestation at Huayquecha Biological Station near
Paucartambo, Cusco in Peru on Dec. 5, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Enrique Castro-Mendivil)

Lima. Seven Latin American countries pledged on Sunday to replant nearly 20 million hectares of forest by 2020 amid a UN climate conference in Lima.

The deal, dubbed “20×20,” which private investors pledged to support with $365 million, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions generated by deforestation and land-use changes. The area is equivalent to more than 49 million acres.

It came at a meeting held in parallel to the conference, with the agriculture and environment ministers from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru.

“In Peru, we are losing forests an an impressive speed,” said Agriculture Minister Juan Manuel Benites Ramos, citing illegal mining, overgrazing and coca planting as the driving factor behind the tree clearings.

The region needs to work on replanting the forests and moving toward “a carbon-neutral agriculture.”

His Argentine counterpart, Roberto Delgado, also urged putting the brakes on deforestation.

“In addition to restoring soil, it is important to stop losing hectares,” he said.

Mexico made the biggest pledge, promising to restore 8.5 million hectares, followed by Peru, which promised 3.2 million, Guatemala, 1.2 million, and Colombia, one million.

Ecuador promised 500,000 hectares, Chile another 100,000, and Costa Rica 50,000.

In addition, a plan to conserve the Patagonia region — which stretches across southern Argentina and Chile — would aim at restoring 4.1 million hectares of forest.

Experts say Latin America is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change.

Agence France-Presse

Coal to be reduced in China's energy mix to cut emissions

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-12-07

A worker loads up a truck with coal in Shanxi. (File photo/CNS)

China is well on track to optimize its energy mix by reducing the proportion of coal, as it looks to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, the Beijing-based Economic Observer reports.

The State Council has issued an energy development action plan for 2014 to 2020 on Nov. 19.

Under the plan, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong will aim to reduce total coal consumption by 100 million tonnes. The Yangtze and Pearl river deltas will also work to reduce total coal consumption and replace coal by gradually stepping up the proportion of external power transmission, raising the natural gas supply, and enhancing non-fossil fuel utilization intensity, among other measures.

China aims to cap coal consumption at 4.2 billion tons by 2020, so that coal constitutes no more than 62% of the primary energy mix by that year, the report stated.

In response to the plan, China National Coal Group Corporation, the country's second-largest coal producer, is considering adjusting its strategy. It has transformed into a coal-chemical industry over the past few years and plans to become more involved in the sector.

China's coal-fired power generation units are capable of increasing generation efficiency to 48% and restricting their average coal consumption to 256 grams per kWh of electricity generated, both the highest standards in the world, the report said.

However, the development of the high-potential new energy sector in China has not been as rapid as expected, mainly due to the high cost of power generation in the sector, the report stated.

Currently, the cost of renewable energy generation has been reduced by 70% and according to the target set under the action plan, China's non-fossil fuels will account for 15% of the total consumption of one-time energy by 2020.

Since China is the world's largest renewable energy market, various government agencies, particularly the environmental protection division, should provide support for the development of the industry to help power producers cut costs and make power prices more reasonable and affordable.

Currently, wind power prices are higher than the costs of coal-fired power generation, but coal-fired power generation produces more pollution, the report said.

Renewable power plants should step up the construction of facilities, make more efforts in research and development of technology to improve renewable energy generation capacity and cut power generation costs, the report added.

An organic garden of plenty in Mali's arid soil

Yahoo – AFP, December 6, 2014

An organic garden of plenty in Mali's arid soil

SATINEBOUGOU (Mali) (AFP) - In a strikingly green corner of Mali, one man is leading an agricultural revolution, using organic farming methods to get the most out of the land -- and pass his techniques on to others in west Africa.

Oumar Diabate has established a reputation for raising chemical-free vegetables, fruit and medicinal plants at his small farm about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the capital Bamako.

In a vast country where two-thirds of the terrain is desert, Diabate, 47, lovingly tends his two hectares (five acres), nudging tomatoes, courgettes, lettuce and beetroot from the ochre soil.

He and five permanent employees also grow fruit trees and plants required for traditional medicine, while dairy cows and sheep graze nearby and chickens fuss about in a separate enclosure.

Diabate acquired the small farm in the village of Satinebougou in 2005 after years away from home doing his veterinary training in Moscow.

A big man with a boxer's build, Diabate was inspired by French environmentalist and farmer Pierre Rabhi, the pioneer of techniques known as "agro-ecology".

By mixing Rahbi's methods with lessons from his studies in Russia, Diabate was soon bucking the trend in a country where agriculture usually means traditional subsistence farming with low yields.

'Even grass wouldn't grow'

"The land that I had bought here was very poor. Even grass wouldn't grow," Diabate recalls, but he had more than the soil to win over, because local peasants didn't believe in his project.

"At the beginning it wasn't easy to show other farmers this, they thought I had something, a magic potion that I was using," he said.

Diabate rejects using chemical fertilisers and pesticides on his farm -- a widespread practice in Mali -- instead he sticks to compost and manure, while rotating his crops to maintain the nutrients in the soil.

He feeds weeds to his cows and in addition to their manure, a natural fertiliser, he cultivates a range of special plants that help ward off potentially damaging insects, worms and parasites, in place of insecticides.

"Marigolds attract destructive insects to their flowers," Diabate explains.

"It means that the tomatoes can grow without being bothered. At the same time the marigolds produce a nematicidal agent in the ground and so repel parasites that were attacking the roots of the tomato plant."

Huts for trainees

Tapping his veterinary background, Diabate has experimented with cross-breeding cows. He mixed local varieties with two European types, black-and-white Holsteins and red-and-white Montbeliards, to produce what he says is an animal more resistant to disease.

"This cross also allowed us to boost milk production," he adds. "Instead of two to three litres (quarts) per cow, we have 10 to 15 litres per cow per day."

Diabate now collects about 30 baskets of fruit and vegetables a week for direct sale to consumers, just as other organic farmer increasingly do in Europe and the United States.

The aim is to support small farms and avoid losing money to middlemen. So far, Diabate has 29 regular clients in Bamako and the surrounding area, to whom he delivers once a week, on Saturdays or Tuesdays.

The baskets, prepared by Diabate's wife Fatoumata, cost 5,000 FCFA (about 7.6 euros, $9.4). Diabate said he takes home 40 percent of this -- a critical return in a nation where the average monthly salary is 50,000 FCFA (76 euros, $94).

But his other goal is to share his know-how in a land-locked nation that ranks among the world's 25 poorest and where 80 percent of the labour force works in agriculture -- mainly small-scale traditional or subsistence farms.

Diabate has built several huts and a classroom and since 2007 has welcomed trainees from inside Mali and abroad, such as Cheikh Ndour from Senegal who came to learn his techniques last year.

Government reforms

The pioneering farmer has established a Sahelian Centre for Training and Research in Agro-Ecology (CSFRA), backed by a little financial support from Urgenci, a non-governmental organisation promoting community-supported agriculture around the world.

Diabate has a place on Urgenci's committee and has joined forces with another Malian activist, Ousmane Camara, to promote agro-ecology and sustainable development.

Diabate's methods have aroused some interest, but organic production is still marginal in Mali, where subsistence farming accounts for nearly 40 percent of GDP.

Authorities have slowly introduced reforms over the past few decades and last year announced they want to make the country a regional agricultural force by 2017, in a document that resonated with some of Diabate's principles.

The goal, an official statement said, is to create jobs and revenue "following the logic of sustainable development and respect for the environment".

Central America’s New Coffee Buzz: Renewable Energy

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Katell Abiven, Dec 05, 2014

A worker stands by a biodigestor at La Hermandad farm in San Ramon, about
30 kilometers from Matagalpa, Nicaragua, on Nov. 19, 2014. (AFP Photo/Inti Ocon)

Matagalpa, Nicaragua. That morning cup of coffee gives many of us a needed boost, but Central American coffee farmers have found a new source of energy in their beans: turning agricultural wastewater into biogas.

An often-overlooked byproduct of the world’s favorite stimulant, the water used to process raw coffee beans is usually dumped back into the environment untreated.

In Central America, locals call it “honey water” because of its sweet taste and yellowish color.

Extremely polluting, it is high in methane gas — a leading contributor to global warming produced, in this case, by the fermentation of the coffee tree’s berries.

Across Nicaragua, the 1.3 million sacks of coffee produced annually generate pollution equivalent to about 20,000 cars.

Now a pilot project at 19 farms in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras is treating that water, separating out the methane and using it to fuel electric generators.

“Look how high that flame is,” said Sarahi Pastran as she cooked bananas in her kitchen at the La Hermandad coffee cooperative in San Ramon de Matagalpa in Nicaragua.

Her stove was connected to a pipe that ran across her lush yard and connected to a biogas generator fueled by coffee byproducts that used to pollute local rivers.

The project was launched in 2010 by Dutch sustainable farming group UTZ Certified, seeking to use less water in coffee growing and use it more creatively.

“It used to cause a lot of pollution … and it smelled,” said Francisco Blandon of the wastewater that his family farm used to produce.

“A lot of families live by the river. They bathe there, wash their laundry. It gave them rashes and intestinal parasites when they drank it,” said Blandon, 39, as two of his four children ran around barefoot on the dirt floor of their house about an hour north of San Ramon.

A man shows how to regulate with lime the
 pH of water used to wash the coffee beans at
 La Hermandad farm in San Ramon, about
30 kilometers from Matagalpa, Nicaragua,
on Nov. 19, 2014. (AFP Photo/Inti Ocon)

‘Hit the jackpot’

Blandon said he was skeptical when a team of extension workers first tried to sign him up for the project in 2010.

“But they were so insistent. … Less than a month later, it was up and running,” he said.

“Now the neighbors who visit say ‘Wow, you hit the jackpot!’” said his wife, Fatima Valenzuela Altamiro, 35.

She used to cook with wood that filled her kitchen with noxious smoke. Her husband had to cut down about five trees every season.

The first time biogas came out of the tube in her kitchen, “it was amazing,” she said.

“What a surprise when that flame appeared!”

The apparatus to extract the gas costs several thousand dollars. It was 75 percent funded by the Dutch government, 25 percent by local cooperatives.

“We’ve had very good results,” said Vera Espindola Rafael, Latin America coordinator for UTZ Certified, which also runs a labeling program to guarantee that coffee is produced with sustainable practices and fair labor conditions.

“We’ve achieved all the goals we set: producing biogas, reducing pollution and using less water.”

Water use at the La Hermandad farm has fallen by more than 80 percent, said technical manager Marvin Mairena.

Different farms need different mechanisms to extract methane gas, depending on their size.

Some produce biogas only during the harvest season, others produce it year-round by replacing coffee with animal waste.

UTZ has started rolling out the project in Colombia, Peru and Brazil. It is looking for funds to do the same in Kenya and Vietnam.

Agence France-Presse

Related Article:

Sumba powers up with renewables

No shale gas while we’re in government, Labour leader says

DutchNews.nl, December 4, 2014

Sharp divisions have emerged between the ruling coalition parties about the controversial hunt for shale gas in the Netherlands.

Labour leader Diederik Samsom said on Wednesday it is ‘completely unnecessary’ to drill for shale gas in ‘this densely populated country’. 

Samsom, who is not a minister, repeated his position later in parliament during a debate on climate change and said there were would be no drilling as long as his party is part of the governing coalition.

In June, the Labour party said it would accept test drilling as long as the process is shown to be clean and safe.

However, prime minister Mark Rutte told MPs that research into the usefulness and need for shale gas is continuing. Those results are expected before the summer of 2015 and then the debate on what to do next will take place.

No test drillings are currently being carried out, he told MPs. Any permits will rely on the outcome of the studies.

Samsom said the research can continue but asked the cabinet to extend the moratorium on test drilling to 2017, when the next election is due to take place. MPs will vote on that next Tuesday.

Surprise

MPs from the ruling VVD said they were surprised by Samsom’s comments. ‘It is odd to say that shale gas is out of the question while different research projects are underway,’ VVD parliamentarian René Leegte told broadcaster Nos.

Shale gas is ordinary natural gas that has been trapped in dense shale beds deep underground. It is extracted using a controversial process known as fracking, which involves drilling a hole deep into the shale and pumping in water mixed with sand and chemicals.

A number of local councils, water boards and even brewing groups like Heineken have come out against the production of shale gas in the Netherlands because of the risk of pollution.

Haaren and Boxtel in Brabant and the Noordoostpolder north east of Amsterdam have been earmarked as test drilling sites. All three areas are strongly opposed to the arrival of shale gas companies.

Related Articles:

Dutch plant turns river and sea into electricity

World's first solar cycle lane opening in the Netherlands

Central America’s New Coffee Buzz: Renewable Energy

Sumba powers up with renewables

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

Dutch plant turns river and sea into electricity

CBS – AP, November 27, 2014

Breezanddijk, community on the Afsluitdijk, a large dike in the Netherlands, is
 the site of a power plant producing "Blue Energy" that opened on Nov. 26,
2014.  WIKIMEDIA

Dutch researchers are seeking to add a new, largely untapped renewable energy source to the world's energy mix.

They opened a "Blue Energy" test facility on Wednesday, a pilot installation to put into practice a new technique that harnesses power from rivers and seas.

Blue energy takes advantage of the difference in salt concentration between sea water and fresh water to produce electricity.

Rik Siebers of REDstack BV, the company overseeing the project, said the goal is to improve the technology to the point where it will be profitable to build blue energy plants commercially in the 2020s.

Siebers said blue energy will one day have its own niche.

"For wind turbines you need wind, and solar panels work in the day, but water is always flowing," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

"Blue Energy is a sustainable technology that will generate 24/7 electricity free from carbon dioxide emissions," according to a statement from Westus, the research institute behind the innovation.

The Dutch plant has a theoretical maximum capacity of 50 megawatts, about enough to power 100 Dutch homes. A more limited trial of similar technology began in Norway in 2009.

The technique uses two specialized filters with salt and fresh water on each side. One filter lets positively charged sodium ions seep through, while the other admits negatively charged chlorine ions, creating a natural battery.

The production of energy comes directly from the salinity difference of the water sources and does not require additional mechanisms such as turbines. Westus says that no pollutants are released in the process.

Each square meter of the filter panel can generate roughly one watt, and the filters are then arranged in stacks of hundreds to multiply the effect.

It's no coincidence the technique is being pioneered in the Netherlands, which has a wealth of river-coast interchanges including the Rhine and Meuse river deltas.

The test plant is strategically located on the Afsluitdijk, the long dike built off the Dutch coast in the 1930s that turned part of the North Sea into an enormous freshwater lake.

The project is being funded by a mix of government and private sponsors, with participation by the University of Twente.

CBS/AP

Afsluitdijk, The Netherlands

Related Article:

Blue energy: water power

Solar cycle paths – the way forward?

DutchNews.nl, November 27, 2014

A magical cycle ride. Photo: Studio Roosegaarde

Last week, the world’s first solar cycle paths were opened in Holland: ‘Starry Night’ near Eindhoven and SolaRoad in Krommenie. The cycle paths use two entirely different technologies to generate solar energy, but are solar cycle paths a crazy idea or the way forward? asks Holland-Cycling.com’s Hilary Staples.

Starry Night near Eindhoven is both a functional cycle path and a work of art by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde. It’s inspired by a painting by Vincent van Gogh. The opening of the cycle path marks the start of the celebrations for the 125th anniversary of Van Gogh’s death in 2015.

The glow-in-the-dark cycle path uses light-emitting techniques: light stones are charged during the day and emit light during the evening. This not only lights up the cycle path, but also creates the impression of cycling through Van Gogh’s eponymous painting.

Smart fun

The Starry Night cycle path received a lot of attention from media all over the world. Most people love the project: ‘Beautiful. Technology making the present both futuristic and magical. Should embrace more of this to make life just a little bit more special,’ writers said. However, one sceptic is a bit confused by the concept: ‘I just don’t see the reasonable application.’

Obviously the Starry Night cycle path is meant as a bit of fun, but it’s also intended as a way to generate publicity for a serious, energy saving application, the Smart Highway: interactive road markings powered by solar energy that light the roads (no more street lights!) and increase road safety.

SolaRoad

SolaRoad in the village of Krommenie is a pilot project testing the practicality and cost efficiency of embedding solar panels into a cycle path. The path is to generate energy that can power anything from street lights or traffic lights to electric cars or houses.

The experimental cycle path is made up of rows of solar cells, encased in concrete blocks. The road surface consists of a one centimetre thick translucent layer of tempered glass which is said to meet all (safety) requirements. A non-adhesive finish and a slight tilt so the rain can wash off dirt keep the solar panels clean so they can work as efficiently as possible. The path is now 70 metres in length, but will be extended to 100 metres in 2016.

Cycling over the solar road north of Amsterdam. Photo: SolaRoad

The developer of the solar bike path concept, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, sees great potential in the idea. They say there are only enough roofs suitable for solar panels to meet 25% of the demand for electricity in Holland. With SolaRoad, up to 20% of the 140,000 km of road in Holland could potentially be used to harvest solar energy.

‘It could mean a breakthrough in the production of sustainable energy.’ The cycle path in Krommenie is expected to generate between 50 and 70 kWh per m2 per year. This would be enough to power three households. The cycle path, which cost an impressive €3m, has been financed by the local government and Dutch companies who believe the project has economical potential.

More sustainable

The idea of using existing road infrastructure to generate solar energy is not new. Holland already has solar panels on street lights, sound barriers and sides of bridges. In a small and densely populated country efficient use of space is simply a must. The idea is now also catching on across the globe.

The Dutch media and public, who are usually very quick to voice any criticism, are overall optimistic. They hope ‘cycling is to become even more sustainable’ and are waiting for the test results to see whether the concept works.

Heated debate

Outside Holland, the response has been sceptical if not outraged. British newspaper The Guardian wrote a positive piece about the experimental cycle path, but pointed out that ‘since the path cannot be adjusted to the position of the sun, the panels produce roughly 30% less energy than those fixed on the roofs.’ This triggered a heated debate as to whether roads are the best location for solar panels.

The main concerns are the inefficiency of the solar panels on a road (due to their position, shade and dirt), the high production and maintenance costs, and the unsuitability of tempered glass as a safe road surface (dangerous, not durable and costly to replace). 

Roads need roofs

The strongest critic of the solar cycle path is Craig Morris of Renewables International, who hopes that people will quickly realise how terrible the idea is, so that the project will not be copied elsewhere.

‘I’ve been in the Netherlands, and I can tell you one thing – the roads need roofs. You should put a solar roof over a bike path, provide protection from the rain (most of the year) and the sun (a few days of a year), and actually generate a decent amount of electricity. Cyclists would not shade the panels, not as much dirt would build up on the panels if they are three metres up, and you would have a much less expensive, safer bike path underneath.’

His alternative is readily embraced by the sceptics. While it’s hard to disagree that, from an energy efficiency and economical point of view, covering cycle paths with a solar roof would probably be a better idea than a solar cycle path, Morris misses the point of the pilot: using existing infrastructure to generate energy.

Leaving aside the question whether we should build roofs over cycle paths in a country where it only rains 7% of the time (and the rain rarely comes down straight!), I can’t help but wonder how many cyclists would still be eager to come and explore Holland by bike if the whole countryside were covered by ribbons of solar roofs.

Way forward?

Are solar cycle paths the way forward? It’s good to explore new technology and if the solar cycle path in Krommenie contributes to the development of more efficient, durable and affordable solar panels, who could be against it? However, many people – including me – wonder whether solar cycle paths and roads are the most economically viable option. Even if every suitable road surface would be used, it still wouldn’t be enough to supply every Dutch household with electricity.

Surely we should focus on developing more efficient solar panels and place them in the best possible locations, to start with on roof tops. And if all our roof tops aren’t enough, shouldn’t we ask ourselves: what are we doing wrong?

One thing is clear: solar cycle paths are of no benefit to the people for whom the cycle paths are intended. Some cyclists worry that the investment in solar cycle paths will come out of the budget for cycle paths and have a negative effect on cycling infrastructure in Holland. That should never be the outcome of a project aimed at more sustainability. After all, cycling is the most energy-efficient mode of transport!

This article was first published on website Holland-Cycling.com.

Related Articles:

World's first solar cycle lane opening in the Netherlands

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

This Japanese woman can reduce the price of solar energy around the world

TechinAsia, David Corbin, 27 Nov 2014

Miho Koike in her office in Tohoku University.

Solar cell makers in China, Taiwan, and Europe have bombarded Miho Koike with product orders. Koike is the CEO of Material Concept, a small solar power development company that is changing the way the world makes solar panels. Nestled away in a Tohoku University research and business center, the company is so hidden and focused on product it does not have a working website. Instead, it depends on Tohoku University web space to broadcast news. Don’t worry – this is not a fly-by-night Kickstarter campaign. The product is real, and it is selling.

Traditionally, manufacturers use a gold paste to affix solar cells to the electrodes on solar batteries and panels. Gold, being a valuable commodity, ends up accounting for almost 25 percent of all production costs. Junichi Koike (no relation) developed an alternative copper paste that Miho says is just 1/100th of the cost.

Though the breakthrough was twenty years in the making, with other researchers pursuing the same goal, the real trick that Junichi pulled off is creating a slim barrier to prevent the copper from being absorbed into the silicon used in solar panels. The cost benefits of copper had been known but the material caused silicon to degrade, making it a risky alternative.

This is welcome news to overseas solar companies. Material Concept receives a lot of attention from Europe because the European Union announced a switch over to the bronze standard by 2018. Miho mentions that they are exploring tie-ups with Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers. The talks must be going well because she is looking for new employees who can also speak Chinese.

Although Japan’s government made a noisy but faltering push for more solar power, the reality is that Material Concept’s clients are mostly outside of Japan. “In Japan only three major companies – Sharp, Kyocera, and Mitsubishi – are producing these solar cells,” she says.

A CEO that almost never was

Junichi might have cracked the scientific code but Miho is the engine pushing the company forward. That said, she nearly missed the opportunity. For ten years she lived in the US, studying and working. Though she expected to live there for the rest of her life, family considerations led her to return to Japan. At the time of her decision she had just received a notice that her application for a permanent visa was approved.

Back in Japan, she experienced reverse culture shock. “I didn’t want to leave my home. That lasted for half a year,” she recalls. Soon enough, she picked herself up and worked in a steady government job for the next 14 years. In that role, she would sometimes interact with businesses that were launching out of universities. When the opportunity came, in 2011, to coordinate business planning and development for startups trying to launch out of top-ranked Tokyo University, she took it.

Feeling a strong desire to help the disaster-ravaged Tohoku area of Japan, she switched her role when the opportunity to lead Material Concept arose in 2013. Now she’s singularly focused on one company – Material Concept. With a deep roster of domestic and international contacts, Miho is steering a company that could be poised for a big breakout.

Local investors agree. Earlier this year, it received series A funding of approximately US$6 million from major names like Daiwa Securities and the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan.

See: Rakuten Plans to Sell Solar Panels for Home Users

Editing by Paul Bischoff and JT Quigley

Super material has chink in its armour

Yahoo – AFP, 26 Nov 2014

Subatomic proton particles, as produced by this "Synergium" machine, can
penetrate super material graphene, it has been discovered (AFP File)

Scientists said Wednesday they had found a chink in the impermeable armour of graphene, the world's thinnest material, and one of the strongest.

The team said they were surprised to see the super material known to repel all gases and liquids, let through sub-atomic particles called protons.

And they hailed the unexpected finding as a potential breakthrough for fuel cells -- a non-polluting version of a traditional battery.

"The discovery could revolutionise fuel cells and other hydrogen-based technologies as they require a barrier that only allow protons -- hydrogen atoms stripped of their electrons -- to pass through," said a statement from Manchester University, whose researchers took part in the work.

Protons, along with neutrons, make up the nuclei of atoms, the building blocks of matter.

At just one atom thick -- many times thinner than a human hair, graphene is stronger than steel and acts as a barrier to even the smallest of atoms, hydrogen -- making it a perfect ingredient for impermeable coatings and packaging materials.

Led by physicist Andre Geim, awarded the Nobel in 2010 for his work on graphene, a research team set out to test whether protons, like atoms and molecules, would also be repelled by graphene.

They "fully expected that protons would be blocked, as existing theory predicted as little proton permeation as for hydrogen," said the statement of the findings published in the journal Nature.

"Despite the pessimistic prognosis, the researchers found that protons pass through the ultra-thin crystals surprisingly easily, especially at elevated temperatures..."

This made graphene an excellent candidate for proton-conducting membranes key to efficient fuel cell technology, said the statement.

Fuel cells, a kind of battery used in some electric cars and backup power generators, for example, use oxygen and hydrogen as a fuel and convert chemical energy into electricity.

They require membranes that allow protons to pass through, but not other particles.

"It looks extremely simple and equally promising. Because graphene can be produced these days in square metre sheets, we hope that it will find its way to commercial fuel cells sooner rather than later," said study co-author Sheng Hu.

Graphene was aired as a theoretical substance in 1947. But for decades, physicists thought it would be impossible to isolate, as such thin crystalline sheets were bound to be unstable.

The problem was resolved in 2004 by Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, who used ordinary sticky tape to lift a layer from a piece of graphite.

That layer was itself pulled apart using more tape, and the process repeated until just the thinnest of layers remained -- a graphene sheet.