All About Solar | Green Energy News

October 29, 2006 – Vol.11 No.32

ALL ABOUT SOLAR.

This week’s news.

Much of the world is already covered with trillions of solar cells that are working hard to provide oxygen for us, and other creatures, to breathe.

According to team of scientists led by scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, those minute solar cells use photons of light to split water into protons, electrons and oxygen: split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Those solar cells are nothing more than a chemical structure common to plants that are the cornerstone of photosynthesis. The team calls the “solar cells” a metal catalyst.

Though the research team, that included scientists from Germany’s Technical and Free Universities, the Max Planck Institute and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lab, doesn’t know exactly how to replicate the catalyst, they do know what it looks like. But, if the catalyst and the process of photosynthesis could be reproduced by humans, then an endless solar energy-to-hydrogen fuel chain could be created. Think of what that would mean. (Near endless hydrogen.)

The metal catalyst structure is made of four manganese atoms and one calcium atom (Mn4Ca). It resides in a large protein complex called photosystem II which is found in plants, green algae and cyanobacteria, and it’s activated by photons in sunlight, like solar cells.

The scientists hope that others, knowing what the photosynthetic Mn4Ca cluster looks like, can replicate it.

(Since plants also grab carbon dioxide from the air and add free hydrogen to it to make the carbohydrates that make up cellulose in plant structure (thus store carbon dioxide) then replicated photosynthesis could feasibly help sequester carbon dioxide, even reduce concentrations in the atmosphere.) Visit Berkeley Lab at http://www.lbl.gov/

Replicated photosynthesis is probably a long way off, hopefully in the coming decades. So, for now, solar energy must come from technology available from the growing solar industry.

--- Sharp has announced that it has increased annual production of solar cells at its Katsuragi Plant in Nara Prefecture, Japan to 600 megawatts per year. The new capacity keeps Sharp the world’s largest manufacturer of solar cells. Visit Sharp USA at http://www.sharpusa.com/

--- Mitsui & Co has acquired SunWize Technologies of Kingston, New York. SunWize is a solar technology company that specializes in the design and manufacture of integrated solar power systems, project development and product distribution. Mitsui has been selling solar modules to SunWize and other North American concerns since 2002. Mitsui has global operations ranging from steel production to transportation logistics to consumer products.

Mitsui plans to grow SunWize into a $400 million/year business within 3-5 years. Visit Mitsui USA at http://www.mitsui.com/ , SunWize at http://www.sunwize.com/

--- Ascent Solar and Permacity are working together to make it easier - thus less expensive - to install solar systems. The companies are developing their proprietary FASTTRACKS (tm) system to make solar installations a simple, plug-and-play operation. With the system thin film, snap-together, solar modules will serve as wiring pathways and eliminate wires and junction boxes ordinarily needed to connect solar modules together. The easier it is to install a solar system, the less it should cost. Visit Permacity at http://www.permacity.com/ and Ascent Solar at http://www.ascentsolar.com/