New Solar Cells 20 Times Cheaper

handy_vandal writes "STMicroelectronics has announced a new generation of photocells made from organic plastics. Over a typical 20-year life span of a solar cell, a single produced watt should cost as little as $0.20, compared with the current $4. See also article @ cnn.com. On a related note, this article @ IEEE discusses new improved LED technology by the same team."

At that price...

[KDan]

The mythical solar-powered flashlight becomes achievable!

Daniel

Sign Me Up!

[Gortbusters.org]

3 laptops and the other essentials (TV, etc) run me a quick $100/month bill in electricity. Must... get... solar..

interesting problem

[Savatte]

to successfully set up and harness the power of the sun using solar cells would mean venturing out into the sun. what's a geek to do?

It's like a forcing yourself to drink some nasty cough syrup to make a cold go away.

Solar cell shmolar cell

[t0qer]

If you really want an ecologicly friendly source of power look into electric eels. Sure they're a bit slimey and would get you weird looks from airport customs, but for anyone looking for a macho ego boost, "Is that an eel in your pocket or are you just happy too see me?"

Nice finally

[chronos2266]

Now I can wear a flashy solar cell scarf to power my MIThril jacket.

"Everyone at STMicroelectronics Declared ...

[burgburgburg]

Enemy Combatants: Carted Off to Guantanamo"

Bush commented "We didn't just have a war for oil to have folks stop using it. Switching to Solar means the terrorists have won."

Re:I heard Solar was going to get cheaper in 1976

[Oliver Wendell Jones]

I don't know about you, but I don't want to look up at the moon and see piles of man-made crap instead of its current beautiful state. Power stations on the moon makes me want to vomit.

1) You must live way out in the country where there is no night time city lights to interfere with your view of the night sky.

2) You must have really good eyes or a decent telescope

3) You must have a really weak stomach.

You could build a kick ass solar power station the size of a major metropolis on the moon and not be able to see it with the naked eye.

The only drawback I see to solar power stations on the moon is the expense in buying 1,000,000 of those bright orange 50' extension cords so we can run the power back down to Earth.

Re:Sign Me Up!

[_ph1ux_]

"...the best part is that I force GREEN power down ..."

Well technically Solar Power would be White Power, in that sunlight is white light... But that just sounds bad.

Re:interesting problem

[Corgha]

to successfully set up and harness the power of the sun using solar cells would mean venturing out into the sun. what's a geek to do?

Ummmm... set them up at night?

That's when we're awake, anyway, and our eyes have long ago adjusted to living in cave-like darkness, so it all works out. Remember to wear eye protection if the moon is out.

Re:I heard Solar was going to get cheaper in 1976

[sukotto]

Wow, my big chance make a pointless correction to someone else's post.

Ave. distance to moon is 384,401 km =~ 1.26115814 x 10^9 feet

So you'd need 25,223,163 of those 50 foot extension cords (plus a few more to get to your house).

Don't bother modding me down. I know this is a stupid waste of time.

Re:Sign Me Up!

[ChaoticPup]

www.homepower.com is the place to start.

The link seems to have issues at the moment. Slashdot effect, or is there a cloud over their datacenter?

- CP

Re:Potential Importance

[Allen Varney]

Cheap solar cells would open up quite a bit of land for human use that is accessible by road but has no power access. When you combine that with WiFi/satellite access the infrastructure advantages of cities become far less pronounced.

...Until your well runs dry. And the septic tank fills up. And the dump near your house gets too smelly. And your car runs out of gas. And you break your ankle and need a doctor.