Major Solar Breakthrough.........

[hammersley]

Well here it starts -



HP licenses new solar tech for production- OregonLive.com



Energy -



Engineers at Hewlett-Packard Co. 's Corvallis campus have teamed up with colleagues at nearby Oregon State University to develop a new technology they hope will make solar panels twice as efficient as traditional models at half the cost.



HP plans to announce today that it has licensed the technology to a Bay Area startup called Xtreme Energetics, which aims to put the technology in large-scale, commercial solar panels within a year. In another year, XE says it hopes to incorporate these "transparent transistors" in commercial products available for residential rooftops.



OSU and HP researchers have been working for more than five years on methods for improving technology manufacturing, according to Dan Croft, an HP director in Corvallis who works on licensing the company's technology.

 

[TRLRTRSH]

Hamm, this is good news, if they can reduce the price by 50% that would be great. Most 120 watt panels today are around $650 a piece. Other manufactures would be forced to improve their panels or reduce their profit margin. Down here where the sun shines 360 days out of the year I could really reduce my electrical usage both summer and winter

 

[Regcabguy]

I caught the tailend of a report on the Glenn Beck show talking about a major breakthrough in the solar field which is about five years away. Al Gore's heavily invested in it. It'll pay for his bigger mansion. :-laf

 

[JimB1]

Whatever happened to the notion that "news reports" were required to have "news content"?



Where "newsmakers" demonstrated solid positions, data, performance?



Where "newreporters" didn't have a story until real content existed?



Magazines like "Vanitey Fair", "Peoples Magazine", and carinival barkers have been doing this stuff since beginning of time, but such stuff didn't make it into the credible end of journalism.





These high potential inovations might get somewhere someday but right now all they're doing is shopping for venture capital under the guise of suggesting most everything is figured out, all we have to do is "turn the crank".



HP is smart, big and laying people off.



Why would they farm out a "major breakthrough" to a 4 person startup outfit in need of money if they thought they had the real deal in hand?





Another case of counting chickens before eggs are hatched.

 

[DZLROKET]

lets try and keep a positive attitude about this shall we. It's all too easy to be a nay sayer! I like to keep an open mind about this new stuff untill proven wrong. Just my 2cents.

 

[JimB1]

Over the last several decades every aspect of energy consumption and production have had solid incremental improvements.



This solar cell technology might be another solid improvement but hasn't made it past shopping for venture captial.



A true energy production major breakthrough would be swamped overnight with investors.



Examples of major breakthroughs are:



the Wright Brothers



Einsteins theroies



Dr Saulk's vaccine for polio



Telsa's work with magnetism which resulted in electric motors and radio



Bell labratories transistor development



Major breakthroughs refexively make a person go "gasp" need little additional billing.

 

[Matt400]

So in the mean time. . anyone using Solar to supplement their power bill? I am told the payback is 10 years and while that sounds like a long time it might be beneficial during retirement years to have reduced energy costs.

 

[TMax]

Matt400,

Yes! We put them on every home we build now in AZ. I have a 4700 SF house with 2 AC units and our homeowner tells me her bill is $70 for June. Yes, her home is super insulated but we do that in every home now and the on-grid system photovolaic system is standard. We figured that we can either spend $18,000 on more marketing or really do something for the end user that will make the house better in the long run. Plus when you do that, it adds instant equity for the buyer... and they tend to like that.

 

[Matt400]

Thanks for the post TMax, we are looking into this at the moment.

My concern is with the panels, do they have a life span like batteries do & if so how long till replacements are needed?

 

[TMax]

Matt400

The panels we install have a 25 year warantee and are said to last much longer. We don't use any batteries in the systems. I am personally installing an 7450 watt system on my house to save dome cash on my summertime power bills.

 

[Regcabguy]

Matt400,

Yes! We put them on every home we build now in AZ. I have a 4700 SF house with 2 AC units and our homeowner tells me her bill is $70 for June. Yes, her home is super insulated but we do that in every home now and the on-grid system photovolaic system is standard. We figured that we can either spend $18,000 on more marketing or really do something for the end user that will make the house better in the long run. Plus when you do that, it adds instant equity for the buyer... and they tend to like that.

We live in a 1957 crackerbox here in San Diego. I just recently entered the 21st century with forced air heat and a/c. A/C is consistent Lennox seer 17 model(boy those compressors are big now!) Next move is to have the walls blown in with insulation under pressure. The ceiling is already done. When solar becomes more affordable,that might be a reality. We've never exceeded $120 a month on our utility bill living along the coast so the payback would take forever.

 

[Yo Hoot]

Examples of major breakthroughs are:

You missed one. .

THE MIGHTY CUMMINS

 

[Matt400]

I am personally installing an 7450 watt system on my house to save dome cash on my summertime power bills.

Hrmm, I have the opportunity to get a 2380W system which sounds weak compared to yours. How can I calculate or know what that would do to our power bill? What do you think of a system this size?

 

[TMax]

Matt,

Just an update. We installed the system and just got it commissioned by the utility. Boy it's neat to watch my electric meter spin backwards!!! Talk about counter-intuitive. We'll see what my savings are from here on out.

 

[GHarman]

Matt,

Just an update. We installed the system and just got it commissioned by the utility. Boy it's neat to watch my electric meter spin backwards!!! Talk about counter-intuitive. We'll see what my savings are from here on out.

Here, in Colorado, the approximate total cost of a solar electric system is $40,000-$50,000. Course there are rebates after the fact, but the up front cost is borne by the homeowner. The rebate only takes care of part of the necessary cost. That rebate varies depending on who your electrical utility is. The Co-Op, United Power, only rebates a few thousand dollars. Xcel Energy will rebate about $18,000. Still, unless you are financially prepared, you have a healthy, up front cost. GregH

 

[TMax]

Greg,

Same thing here. Total on the install was about $52k and SRP paid half of it. I was on the fence about it until my father in law who was a state senator here in Az told me that our "wonderful" idiot governor agreed to enter into the "Western States Energy Initiative" which according to his sources at the utility companies would increase our electric rates by over 40% in the next few years. Apparently the governor did this using her executive order instead of consulting with we the people of this fine state. Now we have to sue her to get it recinded. Let's all watch these people wreck our country in the next few years with debt, over regulation, and taxes.

Sorry, I'll get off my soap box. Just a little frustrated after the past couple of days' worth of bailouts for crooks.

 

[Matt400]

Here, in Colorado, the approximate total cost of a solar electric system is $40,000-$50,000.

Wow, pretty spendy. After rebates we are out of pocket 15K. Even that is a chunk but our calcualted payback is 7. 5 yrs to pay for its self so looks like a good investment to reduce retirement costs.

 

[Matt400]

Just a little frustrated after the past couple of days' worth of bailouts for crooks.

Its only going to get worse as the tax payers soak up all the rest of bad debt.

 

[TMax]

I kinda feel like that crap they throw on the spills at Home Depot to soak up the mess. "Clean up on Wall Street ... repeat clean up on Wall Street!"

 

[jcarey]

A couple of extra pages fo info:



Solar Startup Xtreme Energetics Licenses HP’s Tech « Earth2Tech



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