Indoor Solar Cells? A 500 Megawatt Proposal

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/04/21/Beyond_Sunny_Memories

Howard Clearfield, CTO of G24 Innovations, discusses potential applications of dye-sensitized solar cells. Since these cells operate indoors, Clearfield explains using the technology with indoor devices that draw standby power, like televisions, would take over 500 megawatts of electricity off the grid.

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Finding economic ways to capture and convert energy from our largest renewable energy source, the sun, is becoming more urgent as the worlds supply of fossil fuels vanishes. Now, the development of a new generation of solar cells might lead the way toward a better future.

Graetzel cells, named for Professor Michael Graetzel of the Ecole Polytechnique federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, are dye-sensitized solar cells that are thin, flexible, and come in many shapes and colors, allowing them to answer different functional needs. Inspired by plant photosynthesis, they use dyes to transform sunlight into electricity. - swissnex San Francisco

Howard M. Clearfield is the Chief Technology Officer at G24 Innovations, Ltd., a personalized solar energy start-up company specializing in flexible dye sensitized solar cells (DSSC). His solar energy experience includes positions at OptiSolar, Inc. as Director of Product Development, and at The Dow Chemical Company, where he installed at 210 kW solar farm that has produced over 750 MW-hr of renewable energy. Prior to entering the solar energy field, Clearfield was Global Leader of Technical Services and Applications Development for Dow's LUMATION* Light-Emitting Polymers (LEPs). His group's responsibilities included strategic marketing, customer technical support, and development/transfer of industrial ink processing techniques.

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Science & Technology

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• photovoltaics
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[Asiablue]

Apollo 13 was saved when someone figured out how to save 4 amps of power as the endangered astronauts turned their gear back on. This guy sounds like he can figure out how to do that for the country. Pun intended: more power to him!

[crowdeg]

@anikinippon

Unpowered houses last longer.

[maynardr6]

My keyboard runs on gasoline.

[isawanangel2]

this is great, just think BIGGER

[ssmith73]

@rollsthepaul It must be great to be crazy...

[ArchNME]

umm... yeah, so then I can leave my lights on all the time so my TV will turn on when I press the remote. Sounds like a brilliant plan to save electricity...

[jetboyJ22]

@CharBroiled04 "why not put solar panels on the roof or in the desert... and build them into all our electronics?"

Because the indoor solar panels cost the same amount as the outdoor ones, and don't produce as much power. Electronics will waste energy either way- the indoor panels *don't* make electronics more efficient, they just add new energy to the system. The new energy can come from anywhere- the indoor and outdoor panels are the same, except that the outdoor ones work better.

[etzel33]

cells to replace every tv standby to save 2w/unit.... and how much energy to create each cell set that would save this 2w/unit? Payoff when? Lifetime of cell? Is this a real solution or just a convenience/ alternative to batteries??? eh... maybe.

[Craigipedia]

sooo... all of our appliances could have those tiny little strips of photo cells like our calculators have for a generation and we can remake the electric grid? Where was this guy for the past 10 years! Let's do this tomorrow. Cut a deal with Sony and Vizio and Samsung and make this happen

[rollsthepaul]

When the death grip of the Zionists, Illuminati, Freemasons is broken, the planet will advance and give much autonomy.