Renewables rant

I recently saw this cartoon on Facebook. At first it made me laugh, but then it made me angry. It made me angry because it kind of misses the point about electric vehicles and renewable energy, but at the same time hits right at the heart of the issue. The problem is that the electric…

Cutting solar manufacturing costs

Manufacturing solar cells traditionally involves complex and costly vacuum-based processes. Now, some industry specialists believe new approaches can cut costs and bring ‘grid parity’ within reach. They urge producers to discover how thermal processes and electro-deposition enable cost-effective high volume thin-film PV production. Sunlight may be free, but generating electricity with PV cells remains expensive.…