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66 Comments
- BenKenobi88, on 07/14/2008, -5/+54That's "dyeing"...
- FeloniusMonkey, on 07/14/2008, -3/+29Is the title misspelled, or just a lame pun?
- TreatsTheBear, on 07/14/2008, -0/+23Yes.
- Quintios, on 07/14/2008, -0/+15"Super cooled steam"
Also known as: water (cause that's what you'll get if you "super cool" steam. Either it's saturated, or superheated. Pick one.)
Signed,
Bogus-Science-Term to English Translator-Guy - pintomp3, on 07/14/2008, -1/+13"The technology was abandoned when research funding dried up." because of lack of public awareness, funding to science and research has been on the decline. this stuff doesn't magically show up at home depot.
- strictnein, on 07/14/2008, -1/+10You know what we were reading about being in the lab 5-10 years ago? Home computers with GBs of RAM and TB HDs. You know what we have now? Home computers with 4-8 GBs of RAM and 2 TBs of HD space.
Just because you can't quite follow the big picture, doesn't mean progress isn't being made. - dagamer34, on 07/14/2008, -2/+11Damn, I really liked MIT too. Now the oil companies are gonna make them disappear. =/
- jjustice, on 07/14/2008, -3/+11error != pun
- inactive, on 07/14/2008, -5/+12This would be huge breakthrough. Great article!
- inactive, on 07/14/2008, -6/+13This way, it's a pun. Leave it be, young one.
- IphtashuFitz, on 07/14/2008, -1/+7"A company has already been founded to capitalize on the technology, and it won two prizes at MIT’s Enterpreneurship Competition, totaling $30,000."
I know a guy who won the MIT Enterpreneurship Competition twice, and founded successful companies based on both those winning submissions. The track record of the winners of that competition is pretty good (over 85 companies funded, with a $10.5 billion market cap since 1990), so if anybody can pull of this sort of improvement with solar technology it's these guys. FYI, the website for the competition is here: http://www.mit100k.org - inactive, on 08/01/2008, -4/+9hopeful.
- papastout, on 07/14/2008, -1/+6The Mars landers had layers of photovoltaics that boodted efficiency 80% (or so I heard) but the actual material cost something to the tune of $400 per square inch. I suspect they used something along this line.
- Quintios, on 07/14/2008, -1/+6Both? :)
- guytoronto, on 07/14/2008, -13/+17Every few weeks, an article gets posted on digg claiming "Solar Energy Breakthrough!", yet it all ends up being theoretical, "in-the-lab" BS that never gets applied in the real world.
Get back to us when there is a REAL breakthrough that actually delivers. - inactive, on 07/14/2008, -2/+6I remember reading that if you covered an area of Texas with solar cells that were 20% efficient, you would solve the worlds' energy needs. It looks like we're not going to be flattening Houston then! ^^
- waldo21, on 07/14/2008, -2/+6This is one of those wait and see technologies that I really hope comes to fruition. I remember reading about these dyes almost 10 years ago, and at that time they were supposed to be 5-10 years from production (just like all the revolutionary technologies it seems). However, I think the business climate for solar has really changed in the past few years, and there is now a higher probability that this will pan out, or at least some sort of spin off technology can be gleaned from it. The lifespan is a huge deal. Current panels not only come with a 20 - 25 yr production guarantee, they will easily keep producing energy for another 25 years, just at a lower than rated capacity. It sounds like these dyes don't just derate power production over time, but actually degrade to the point of not producing any output.
- strictnein, on 07/14/2008, -0/+4RTFA
- strictnein, on 07/14/2008, -0/+4What kind of logic is that?
- nightofgrim, on 07/14/2008, -0/+3As far as implementing windows into buildings, sky sappers would benefit greatly.
- hansonc, on 07/14/2008, -0/+2@strictnein Didn't you know, everything that will be invented by mankind has already been invented and marketed. Duh.
- Tenoq, on 07/15/2008, -0/+2And I live in Australia, so flatten the whole country. :p
Wait, we finished jizzing on each other now? - feliks2, on 07/14/2008, -4/+6No thanks, if I'm dead the increase in efficiency is meaningless to me.
- strictnein, on 07/14/2008, -0/+2That's always been the dream. An inexpensive film that could be applied over existing sky scrapers that would capture solar energy.
- ericjohnson0, on 07/14/2008, -0/+2Ha! Good one.
- TopherT, on 07/14/2008, -0/+2Feel free to flatten Dallas though.
- Elliuotatar, on 07/14/2008, -1/+3It would except the dyes still break down in a few months.
The idea of using tinted windows to generate power instead of just wasting it as heat is interesting though. - InetRoadkill, on 07/14/2008, -2/+3Not really hopeful. This is a dupe news release that was front-paged a few days ago. The problem is still cost. Even at double the efficiency of regular silicon cells, these still are not a cost effective replacement for the utility grid. The cell cost needs to be around 5 cents per kilowatt-hour to be practical since your return on investment also has to include the cost of installation, batteries, inverters, and eventual replacement of the components. The goal is to produce power at an average cost of under 10 cents per kilowatt-hour to be competitive with existing technologies.
I'd love for this to work out. My A/C bill in the summer gets pretty steep. But they need to think cheap to get this adopted. - KingGorilla, on 07/14/2008, -2/+3This also goes for fuel efficient cars, cures for cancer and aids
- TopherT, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Annnnnnd I'm spent. (re-using 7 year old meme)
- DragonzKin, on 07/14/2008, -2/+3Didnt this news already make frontpage from a different source?
Consensus is: we get this sort of news all the time. I'll be impressed when it makes it to market and translates to a savings for the consumer. - iansmith6, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1Well Digg is only 3 years old.. not much time for a breakthrough to make it from theory to market.
Come back in another 3 years and I bet a number of things will be on the shelves. - sanman, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1With an organic dye as a simple coating, then why not incorporate it into high-altitude blimps, which could gather solar energy and use it to power telecom relays. These could serve as "poor man's satellites" for cheaper wireless broadband, especially in rural areas.
- joshua5, on 07/14/2008, -3/+4Yeah we see a lot of these "breakthroughs" in the news and on Digg but I have yet to see anything put into practice. Call me when things actually start changing.
- inactive, on 07/14/2008, -10/+11It only counts when we can walk into Home Depot and buy it. Until then, it is simply pie in the sky article #12,907 of the year.
- ddawggin, on 07/14/2008, -1/+2Think about how much more energy efficient you are when you're dead though. Still don't see what it has to do with solar panels though.
- coup, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1the article says 10 years. Did I miss something?
- ericjohnson0, on 07/14/2008, -2/+3improved solar technology is one area where we can generate power. An increase in efficiancy only helps. We have so many resources available to us in this country and I think the Pickens Plan is the best proposal I have seen to date to help ween America off of foreign oil.
http://thesaloon.net/blog/_archives/2008/7/8/37828 ... - xexx, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1I live next to it and I can't disagree.
- auto98, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Are the researchers members of digg by any chance? This is the 4th or 5th time this story has made it into popular - and it keeps getting dugg O_o
- Abomonog, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1The glass is dark (green) when looked at from the side because of the polishing technique used.
The darkness is actually micro sized scratches left behind from cork polishing.
If what you said were true fiber optics would not work. - Elliuotatar, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1I did RTFA. Several days ago. Not this article though. A different one.
Here is an MIT article which says after 3 months the panels were down to 92% efficiency.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/solarcells-faq- ...
And here's another article which says they only last 3 months:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/07/mit-solar- ...
I think the second is the one I read originally. - TopherT, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1Was that meaningless technobable from some cultural source or did you just make it up for no reason?
- Tenoq, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1RTFA please. 10 year lifespan is expected of the MIT dye setups.
- biotch, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Its the kind of logic that measures the hundreds of articles like this that Ive read in the past 7 years that claim some breakthrough solar technology is right around the corner.... well here we are .... we've rounded many many corners and nothing.
Put it on the shelves and Ill give a flying rats ass about it. Until then, its a waste of our time and optimism. - FeloniusMonkey, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1I live in Philly... so flatten away!
- combatchuck, on 07/14/2008, -0/+1Damn it. I was hoping for an article that would convince a few green twig eating hypermilers to commit suicide. Using a biodegradable hemp rope, of course.
- karel747, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1Pfft. Photosynthetic cells thought this up billions of years ago. We suck.
- rrbaker, on 01/15/2009, -0/+1Change comes about when projects like these gain support, the foundation for which is by bringing said projects into mainstream attention. Digg helps build that attention. So when that big breakthrough comes along, it's little things like this that helped get it there.
- snowpunter, on 07/14/2008, -1/+1How many times is this going to hit the front page? This is the fourth time in two weeks. *sigh*
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