The Newest Thing in Old Solar Technology Nets Ten Times As Much Energy Per Gram of Silicon
http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-05/newest-thing-old-solar-technology-nets-ten-times-much-energy-gram-silicon

A Bright Idea

The future of solar energy involves concentrators - devices that concentrate the energy from the Sun onto the most expensive part of the solar panel: the silicon. Skyline Solar has developed a panel that uses a trough design to concentrate the energy on the silicon without the use of expensive concentrators such as lenses or robotic armatures. The panel is built with commodity parts to make it cheap and competitive with fossil fuels to generate electricity. For this reason, the United States Department of Energy gave a three million dollar grant to Skyline, and investors laid down another twenty-five million for the development of this design. Proponents of the concentration photovoltaic technology have long awaited a breakthrough like this, claiming that it could greatly reduce the cost of solar energy. Skyline Solar's approach is simple: long, curved, shiny panels of aluminum concentrate the sun's energy onto custom-built strips of solar photovoltaic cells - the same ones used on conventional solar panels. There are no lenses, and the troughs only have to rotate on one axis rather than rotating on two axes to track the sun, which has been proven to be unreliable. Skyline Solar has already set up a demonstration plant in San Jose, California for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. Skyline claims that the technology is suitable for any city that gets at least as much sunshine as New York City, and plants based on it are economical at the 100 kilowatt to 100 megawatt range of power production.

This incredible design is a breakthrough in solar technology -- it's so incredibly simple, I find it amazing that nobody has discovered this before! This could greatly reduce the cost of solar power, especially since Skyline Solar is using aluminum to concentrate the Sun's energy onto the silicon. This breakthrough in solar technology could be the beginning of a massive shift away from fossil fuels. If the price is equal to that of fossil fuels, like Skyline Solar plans to do, then many urban power companies across the US will shift over to this type of solar energy. This could also put other alternative energies in danger. It will push development in those energies to reach a cheap, reliable source of energy that will eventually become the next major fuel the world will use. Despite the breakthrough, only time will tell how the race for alternative energies will play out.

Apple Juice
http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2009-03/apple-juice

Fruitful Energy

A simple, regulation vegetable battery made from pieces of zinc and copper stuck in a potato can generate half a volt of electricity. The electricity is created from the oxidation of the zinc. The potato is only a conductive barrier, while the copper serves the purpose of completing the circuit. Alternating layers of vegetable, zinc and copper is similar to wiring batteries in series, each set increasing the voltage of the total. Pennies and apples are another way to create some vegetable batteries. Sanded pennies can provide a good source of both zinc and copper in one object. Around 150 alternating pennies and apple slices, arranged into six separate vegetable batteries yielded enough power to charge an iPhone -- but only for a second. Larger zinc plates and whole apple slices would yield a longer supply of power. Around 200 of the layers were made into one three-foot-long apple battery, which delivered a much higher voltage and created a visible, and potentially fatal spark.

Harnessing energy from vegetables is just what we need in our technology advancing, power hungry society today. This experiment just goes to show that energy can be found in just about anything if we try hard enough to harness it. It also gives us another renewable energy resource. Granted, it may not be the cheapest alternative or most efficient alternative out there, but it still gives us an option that we can possibly use in the future. Although apple or potato fuel is not compact, it should drive other alternative fuel researchers to find places where this type of energy can be used -- for smaller projects. If the technology or prototype of it improves, apple growers or other vegetable growers may be able to use it on their farms in the distant future. This advancement of technology also goes to show how rapidly scientists are searching and finding new sources of energies. Despite it's problems, there is one way we can use this energy today though: if we ever get stuck on an island with apples and need to charge our iPhones, at least we'll know how.