In order for
plastic solar cells with 8% efficiency to supply
U.S. electrical energy needs, a land
area of 58 million acres (shown as eight green blocks)
would have to be covered by solar farms. The orange
square in the California desert, however, could
supply the state’s needs with 1% efficient solar cells,
and the nation’s needs with 6% efficient photovoltaics.
In order for plastic solar cells with 8% efficiency to supply U.S. electrical energy needs, a land area of 58 million acres (shown as eight green blocks) would have to be covered by solar farms. The orange square in the California desert, however, could supply the state's needs with 1% efficient solar cells, and the nation's needs with 6% efficient photovoltaics. (Alivisatos lab/UC Berkeley image) CHICAGO — At a national scientific meeting last week where biofuels – principally ethanol – were uniformly trashed as an environmental train wreck, one bright, carbon-free light gleamed in our energy future: the sun. Numerous sessions on energy and climate change at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement in Science (AAAS), held Feb. 12-16 in downtown Chicago, were premised on the conviction that the world must drastically reduce its carbon output to stave off the worst consequences of global warming. Energy policy expert Dan Kammen provided perspective at last week's AAAS meeting as scientists presented convincing evidence that tropical rainforest destruction has accelerated in recent years at least in part because of the worldwide push to produce more biofuels. More > "The sun is absolutely a singular solution to our future energy needs," speaker Nathan Lewis, who researches synthetic photosynthesis at the California Institute of Technology, told an audience at the meeting.
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