Easy solar cell production?
"For her 10th birthday, Nicole Kuepper received an inspirational present from her parents - her first solar-energy kit.
It sparked a fascination with solar technology that last night led to Ms Kuepper, 23, winning two Australian Museum Eureka Prizes for her scientific research.
She has developed a simple, cheap way of producing solar cells in a pizza oven that could eventually bring power and light to the 2 billion people in the world who lack electricity."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/energy-smart/thinking-outside-the-square-finds-light-in-oven/2008/08/19/1218911717526.html
*Wow* that's cool. I've got to go read her articles. If she's really found a way to make decent solar cells without fancy equipment, that's major. As far as I can tell, the biggest roadblock to widespread solar power is the need for high-purity silicon and expensive cleanroom processing facilities. If she's got a way around that...
Side thought: Evidently Larry Summers doesn't know everything.
It sparked a fascination with solar technology that last night led to Ms Kuepper, 23, winning two Australian Museum Eureka Prizes for her scientific research.
She has developed a simple, cheap way of producing solar cells in a pizza oven that could eventually bring power and light to the 2 billion people in the world who lack electricity."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/energy-smart/thinking-outside-the-square-finds-light-in-oven/2008/08/19/1218911717526.html
*Wow* that's cool. I've got to go read her articles. If she's really found a way to make decent solar cells without fancy equipment, that's major. As far as I can tell, the biggest roadblock to widespread solar power is the need for high-purity silicon and expensive cleanroom processing facilities. If she's got a way around that...
Side thought: Evidently Larry Summers doesn't know everything.