Sharp develops efficient solar cells for use in outer space

Earlier this year, we reported twice about Japan’s serious plans to go to outer space to generate solar energy and then beam it back to Mother Earth. And today, Sharp has shown the first solar cell that’s not only bendable (we’ve seen that before) but that also withstands conditions in space. In addition, the company says those cells boast a record-high solar efficiency of 36%.

The compound solar cells can not only be bent if needed but even folded. They are less than 20 microns thick and are made by stacking up single crystals of indium gallium, gallium arsenide and indium gallium arsenide. These single-crystal layers are grown on solid substrates before transferring them onto a flexible film base. As a result, the solar cells feature extreme flexibility material-wise.

There’s only a prototype available at this point (sorry for the small picture), but Sharp is working on getting a practical version ready in 2012. The solar cells can then be used for equipping satellites and other space applications.

[CrunchGear via Nikkei]

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M.I.T. Ushers in Biking 2.0 With Copenhagen Wheel [Bicycles]

Today at the COP 15 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, M.I.T. students introduced the technologically advanced Copenhagen Wheel. In addition to including various sensors and Bluetooth capability, the tire stores kinetic energy from braking for a later burst of speed.
The makers of the Copenhagen Wheel from M.I.T.'s SENSEable City Laboratory claim that the new features mark the advent of 'Biking 2.0,' a new era based on smarter bikes and easier rides. The wheel is certainly a step in that direction; it includes sensors for detecting distance, speed, direction, all of which are beamed via Bluetooth to the rider's iPhone. The wheel also includes a built-in lock that sends the rider a text if tampered with.
But the most notable feature of the Copenhagen Wheel is its KERS or Kinetic Energy Recovery System, a mechanism by which energy from braking is stored up for later use, giving the rider a boost when going up a hill or speeding through traffic. Some bicycle purists have already dismissed the wheel as a novelty while others suggest that M.I.T. has succeeded in reinventing the wheel. [MIT via Inhabitat]

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California Approves Orbiting Solar Panel Deal, Aims for 2016 Launch [Solar Power]

Remember Solaren, the company that's trying to launch those space-based solar panels, the one that signed a deal with California's biggest power utility company? The whole plan got even closer to reality today, after getting approval from California legislators.
And, like we said, there's no reason Californians would reject the deal between Solaren and PG&E—the utility company isn't investing or putting up any money at all, it's just saying "sure, we'll buy energy from you if and when this thing ever works." Which, you know, duh. The 15-year contract starts in 2016, by which time hopefully we won't have already devolved into a Mad Max-style post-apocalyptic desert state.
[Gizmodo via CPUC via CNET]

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Solar collectors in space could finally solve Earth's energy problem

The Japan Space Agency, along with Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp., are getting even closer to next big thing: harnessing the power of the sun with a solar collector in geostationary orbit. Now there's cold hard cash involved. The plan is to drop $21 billion into a solar power generator that beams electricity to Earth via microwaves. The 1-gigawatt solar station will gather sunlight with a gigantic array of solar panels that is 4 square kilometers big.

While such an idea might be ahead of its time, Japan confidently predicts this first solar power space station will be online within three decades. Leave it to Japan to take our entire civilization ever closer to the day when we'll finally be a Type 1 civilization on the Kardashev scale. By the way, a type I civilization is able to harness all the power available on a single planet.

Actually, these Japanese innovators will be moving us closer to being a Type 2 civilization, which is able to harness all the power available in a single star. We would probably need to surround the Sun with solar panels to do such a thing, but Japan is off to a good start. Meanwhile, those innovators need to calm down the fearmongers, chattering about how those death rays of from space could kill us all.

[DVICE via Treehugger]

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Scientists Enslave Bacteria to Power Tiny Microsized Motor

Italian scientists from the University of Rome managed to harness free floating E. coli bacteria to turn a tiny crankshaft. Although potential uses for such a tiny and unusual motor drive are not yet clear, no doubt interesting applications in medicine and life sciences should present themselves over time.
The Physics arXiv Blog explains:

Angelani and co say there is in important difference between Brownian and bacterial motion: the former is in equilibrium but the latter is an open system with a net income of energy provided by nutrients. This breaks the time symmetry allowing energy to be extracted in the form of directed motion.

Now Angelani and co have built one these asymmetric and persuaded a bath full of E. Coli to push it round at a of 1rpm. Interestingly, Angelani and co report that most of the work is done by just a few bacteria, saying that only 2 out of 10 bacteria attached to a single tooth seem to be contributing to the torque.
In theory, they could speed up the rotation rate by persuading the others to put their backs into it. The linear motion of the gears is currently about 2 micrometres per second while the maximum speed of the bacteria is about 20 micrometers per second.

More at The Physics arXiv Blog...
Full article in arXiv: A bacterial ratchet motor

[Medgadget]

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Nuclear Batteries Solve The Shrinking Gadget Conundrum [Batteries]

It sucks that batteries are nearly bigger than the gadgets they're powering, but thanks to University of Missouri researchers and some tiny nuclear batteries, that'll one day be an issue of the past. Yeah, you read right. Tiny. Nuclear. Batteries.
The real secret behind the size of the batteries is the use of new liquid semiconductors instead of tired old solid semiconductors. That's great, because nuclear batteries aren't a new idea, nor are they terrifying and harmful according to Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri:

'People hear the word ‘nuclear' and think of something very dangerous,' he said. 'However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pace-makers, space satellites and underwater systems.'

Anyway, researchers are building and testing these batteries as you read this, but the bad news is that the initial focus is on powering micro/nanoelectromechanical systems, not remote controls. We can't even begin to speculate as to when we would see tiny nuclear batteries in our local 7-Elevens.
[Gizmodo via University of Missouri via Boing Boing]

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Microsoft's 224,000 Servers Fit Into 112 Containers and Only Take Four People to Set Up [Microsoft]

There are 2,000 in that container. And there are 112 such containers in Microsoft's $500 million Chicago data center. It may seem somewhat ridiculous, but this container-based data center design is absolutely brilliant (and environmentally sustainable to boot).
While we haven't seen Microsoft's newest data center, we hear that it has 700,000 square feet of space, really, really high ceilings, and 40-foot stacks of server-filled containers. Thinking about the stacks may leave me with vertigo, but thinking about the ingenuity of the design leaves me impressed: Microsoft has built something which'll 'deliver huge benefits in cost, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.'
All those containers are plug-and-play in a way, complete with corresponding bays, and can be set up by 'as few as four employees' in hours. Yes, they've designed it so that moving 60 ton stacks of servers requires only four people. If that's not incredible then let's consider that the place has a huge focus on being energy efficient: Despite the facility having a 30-megawatt power capacity, steps have been taken to make it as economical and sustainable as possible:

The Chicago site employs water-side economization [which takes] advantage of cool outside air to reduce the data center's reliance upon power-hungry chillers to produce chilled water. Air economizers introduce fresh air into the data center, while water-side economizers use cooling towers to remove waste heat.

Basically Microsoft is cutting down energy waste, saving on labor, and being all-around economical. While the modular, server-in-a-box approach might not get the stamp of revolutionary, the way Microsoft is approaching it is something worth paying attention to because it might just be what'll help 'meet the demand for cloud computing at scale.' [Gizmodo via Data Center Knowledge]

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Microsoft Announces InstaLoad, Batteries That Work Any Way You Insert Them [Instaload]

Microsoft just introduced InstaLoad, a new battery technology that allows batteries to be placed in any direction without regard to positive or negative polarity. Meaning you can put a battery in however you want and it'll just work. It's genius.

InstaLoad uses a new, patented contact design that doesn't drain battery power or require expensive circuitry. Plus, it's compatible with off-the-shelf batteries used in flashlights, toys, battery chargers, and really anything that uses CR123, AA, AAA, C or D size batteries. We'll never have to look at + or - signs again.

[Gizmodo]

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The LIFE Project to Create a Mini Star on Earth with 192 Lasers [Science]

Well, this is crazy. The LIFE project at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has plans to create a mini sun in the lab, one that could create more energy than it takes to create.


Yes, we're talking about fusion here. By focusing 192 huge laser beams at one 2mm ball of frozen hydrogen gas, they hope to create nearly limitless free energy. Oh, and it gets better:

In addition, the LIFE engine design can be 'charged' with fission fuel. The resulting fission reactions will produce additional energy that can be harvested for electricity production. Moreover, by using depleted uranium or spent nuclear fuel from existing nuclear power plants in the blanket, a LIFE engine will be capable of burning the by-products of the current nuclear fuel cycle. Because the fusion neutrons are produced independently of the fission process, the fission fuel could be used without reprocessing. In this way, LIFE may be able to consume nuclear waste as fuel, mitigate against further nuclear proliferation, and provide long-term sustainability of carbon-free energy. A LIFE engine, via pure fusion or through the combination of fusion and fission, will generate the steady heat required to drive turbines for generating from 1,000 to 2,500 MW of safe, environmentally attractive electric power 24 hours a day for decades.

So wait, not only will it create free, limitless energy, but it will also do so while getting rid of harmful nuclear waste? OK, I guess I'm on board.


[Gizmodo via The LIFE Project via Kottke]

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Mystery European Car Manufacturer Will Use OLED Lighting In Next Two Years [OLED]

OLED manufacturer Novaled has announced it's teamed up with a 'European car maker' to create OLED interior and backlight lighting for their new motor. Intriguing, eh?

Apparently it's passed the concept stage and is being put into production as we speak, with the car likely to go on sale in the next two years. OLED, as you know, is flexible, low-energy and with costs being decreased almost every day, it's now an affordable alternative to other lighting systems.

OLED lighting in the next Citroën, anyone?
[Gizmodo via Plastic Electronics via OLED-Info]

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Thorium, the Next Uranium [Science]

Wired has a fairly epic look into a material that could make nuclear power both clean and safe called thorium—named after the Norse god of thunder. Of course, scientists recognized its promise back in the 1950s.
Whereas uranium is extremely rare, requires purification and creates waste that will be with us for hundreds of thousands of years, thorium is extremely common, burns more efficiently in reactors and leaves less, less radioactive waste (that can't be turned into a nuke).
In fact, if it weren't for the Soviet Union building uranium reactors in the 60s (and us responding in typical Cold War fashion), we'd probably be using thorium today.
But as Wired explains, thorium may be poised for a comeback. [Wired and Image]

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