Here in Germany you can't throw a stone without hitting a solar panel, instantly boosting the strong green(ish) economy even more.

>> ^swedishfriend:

These produce a lot of power compared to their weight but are way less efficient than other solar panels by surface area... They could put these on pretty much every surface to help out with energy needs which would be very hard to do with other photovoltaics. They are also working on making their inks more efficient.


Interesting! Ya, I think high volume, low efficiency for solar is a good way to get the cycle started anyway. Something that you could print at home and purpose with your own imagination! Sun just makes to much sense not to harness!

These produce a lot of power compared to their weight but are way less efficient than other solar panels by surface area... They could put these on pretty much every surface to help out with energy needs which would be very hard to do with other photovoltaics. They are also working on making their inks more efficient.

OK. I take your meaning about proof of concept for the 3D glass printer thing, but for this particular one, at no time will consumers at large accept paper products with burn marks around the edges. They'll have to be cut off, and then it would make more sense just to cut it with a blade in the first place. Now, that blade could be sun-powered, but that's a different concept.>> ^MaxWilder:

>> ^messenger:
Calling this eco is like calling a Rube Goldberg machine efficient. Just because it uses solar panels doesn't mean it's environmentally friendly.
All that plastic and metal, on top of that driving out to the desert and back, not to mention all the materials consumed in designing it, to do with solar power in a few hours what you can do better in a couple minutes at home with a pair of scissors and a hole-punch.

Wow, you are so missing the point. This guy is doing proof of concepts. Of course it would take resources to set up, but once it is, you could use nothing but solar energy to do what factories are burning fossil fuels to do. Indefinitely.
Of course his machines are very crude, but his goal is to get people thinking about utilizing free and abundant resources of the desert. Others can refine the ideas however they might want to apply it.

>> ^messenger:

Calling this eco is like calling a Rube Goldberg machine efficient. Just because it uses solar panels doesn't mean it's environmentally friendly.
All that plastic and metal, on top of that driving out to the desert and back, not to mention all the materials consumed in designing it, to do with solar power in a few hours what you can do better in a couple minutes at home with a pair of scissors and a hole-punch.


Wow, you are so missing the point. This guy is doing proof of concepts. Of course it would take resources to set up, but once it is, you could use nothing but solar energy to do what factories are burning fossil fuels to do. Indefinitely.

Of course his machines are very crude, but his goal is to get people thinking about utilizing free and abundant resources of the desert. Others can refine the ideas however they might want to apply it.

Calling this * eco is like calling a Rube Goldberg machine efficient. Just because it uses solar panels doesn't mean it's environmentally friendly.

All that plastic and metal, on top of that driving out to the desert and back, not to mention all the materials consumed in designing it, to do with solar power in a few hours what you can do better in a couple minutes at home with a pair of scissors and a hole-punch.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

It's a really divisive issue within the Green movement. Thought leaders like David Suzuki are definitely against it.


>> ^campionidelmondo:

>> ^dag:
Despite the recent accidents in Japan - I still believe in nuclear power. I've seen the graphs on heavy metal released from coal plants, rare elements required for solar panels and think it's still our best, greenest hope for energy in the future. This puts me at odds with many of my friends.

This is still a very liberal, very green opinion. It just so happens that the nuclear power industry tends to be politically conservative. Nuclear power is our best option right now, especially since we lack the technology to replace it with renewable energy. What many so-called anti-nuclear "green" people don't understand is that right now distancing ourselves from nuclear power will mean more dependence on dirty coal power.
One could say your stance on nuclear power is right for leftist reasons.

>> ^dag:

Despite the recent accidents in Japan - I still believe in nuclear power. I've seen the graphs on heavy metal released from coal plants, rare elements required for solar panels and think it's still our best, greenest hope for energy in the future. This puts me at odds with many of my friends.


This is still a very liberal, very green opinion. It just so happens that the nuclear power industry tends to be politically conservative. Nuclear power is our best option right now, especially since we lack the technology to replace it with renewable energy. What many so-called anti-nuclear "green" people don't understand is that right now distancing ourselves from nuclear power will mean more dependence on dirty coal power.

One could say your stance on nuclear power is right for leftist reasons.

>> ^quantumushroom:


Jobs bill? His Earness has spent 1 trillion and not made a dent in unemployment.
We need a Government GTFO Of The Way Bill.


Shit man, I asked you to comment so we could discuss the substance of the video.

No one cares about your contradictory, philosophical doctrinal rhetoric.

Obama is the fucking president. That's the executive branch of the government. He's like the top super boss of all the Police and Military.

Congress, The House & Senate, are the Legislative branch. They are responsible for proposing new bills that will become law.

You talk smack about "Libtards" or "Taxcrats" all the time

Tho when Crowley points out that Republicans [whom you love so dearly].. have done shit all to pass a bill which will:
1. protect businesses from imports
2. protect service jobs from outsourcing
3. establish a viable green sector industry producing solar panels or wind turbines for export

You don't say..

"Hey, Crowley makes a good point. I support these "Republican'ts" but they constantly sit on their hands. I'm tired of them."

or.

"Why can't these "Re-Pluto-cains" stop lining their pockets with tax cut bills and use there time to craft a bill that supports the individual worker & the individual American Dream!"

Answer. Not with "I hate government. Especially BLUE colored government" jibber jabber.

Answer like you're a single mother who has been unemployed for 99 weeks and now has to pay the remaining 20% of tuition costs that would have been covered by scholarship funds had they not been stolen by Republican Governors like Nathan Deal of Georgia.

Defend your Republican masters in their lack of pro-active legislation in putting American citizens back to work.

where are the solar panels on the rover or is this the nuclear powered mini rover? i hope they've resolve the stuck wheel problem too.

The story of these two rovers is one of the most fascinating science stories of the last few decades. They're a pretty amazing accomplishment. NOVA did a pretty good show on these too.

My favorite part was that the people who run and monitor the rovers need to do so during Mars' daylight hours when the solar panels on the rovers were active. Since a day on Mars is about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth, people needed to adapt their work schedule to fit. This actually turned out to be WAY harder than it sounds. Imagine adjusting your schedule just a little bit every day, i.e.: picking the kids up from school, watching your favorite shows or making it to birthday parties, etc... And to make it worse, the rover missions which were initially planned to last something like six months have now been going on for YEARS. I haven't seen an update recently but the people on the NOVA program were already so screwed up by the schedule that just about the only thing they could eat was ice cream. Their stomachs just couldn't handle all the minor adjustments.

>> ^deathcow:

If you can focus that much with a single 2 meter paraboloid, wouldn't it be more efficient to heat water with power like that than to use solar panels?


That's the general idea behind thermal solar collection, though I think they molten salt instead of water since it won't boil at normal atmospheric pressures.

If you can focus that much with a single 2 meter paraboloid, wouldn't it be more efficient to heat water with power like that than to use solar panels?

For a professor he sure gets a lot of basic stuff wrong.
For starters he doesn't seem to know (or care) that energy and power is not the same thing. That makes it really difficult to figure out wtf he's talking about in the first half.
Then he proudly claims they discovered artificial photosynthesis only it's not photosynthesis but some kind of electrolysis (or it wouldn't need photovoltaic panels).
Sure, efficient super high density energy storage using water would be pretty awesome if it becomes widely available and cheap but it won't solve "The Energy Problem™" mostly because solar panels still suck. Even in the most sunny parts of the world covering your house with cheap-ish solar panels will probably not be enough to power everything in your house during the day without using part of the power to split water. Good luck if you live somewhere that doesn't get a lot of sunlight or if you don't own a house.
And no, water is not an energy source, energy storage maybe but not a source.

If you invent something good then talk about it, don't just make bullshit claims that you'll save the world and barely mention the actual invention/discovery like this guy does. "I'm not gonna tell you what it is." wtf?

Part of the premise is that, since the cost of solar panels is coming down and the cost of asphalt is skyrocketing, at some point it will be cheaper to lay down panels than asphalt.

I'm still not sure this is all a good idea, but it's certainly an interesting one.

>> ^Jinx:

Still seems like a silly idea to me.
Wouldn't it just be cheaper to run Solar Panels alongside the road instead of making them the road. I mean, whats the advantage in driving on the solar panels? Ok, you could argue it kills two birds with one stone, but consider the cost it requires to make solar panels you can drive on...it start to become quite an expensive stone.