Ariz. Team Seeks Fossil-Fuel Cost Parity, Using Solar Energy Concentrators

autospa writes "A University of Arizona engineering team led by Roger Angel has designed a new type of solar concentrator that uses half the area of solar (PV) cells used by other optical devices and delivers a light output/concentration that is over 1000 times more concentrated before it even hits the cells. This comes as a result of a broader goal to make solar energy cost competitive with fossil fuels (target = 1$/W) without the 'need for government subsidization.'"

Comments

Which government subsidization?

[timeOday]

It's hard to count all the ways our oil economy is supported and subsidized by the government. And we haven't even started cleaning up the mess yet.

subsidization?

[polar red]

without the “need for government subsidization.”

ALL sources of energy receive subsidy. some examples : Oil (how much did all those wars cost?), coal(damage to public health=hidden subsidy), nuclear(research since the forties)

Re:Still the same problem as with all solar

[Aighearach]

If only somebody would invent some sort of device that could store electricity for later use.

Then I could finally ditch the diesel generator I have to drag around to keep my mp3 player running!

Re:Bullshit.

[Desler]

And yet despite claims that they wouldn't miss them, they continue to lobby and fight against their removal.

Re:Still the same problem as with all solar

[jmorris42]

Look into the efficiency of a battery sometime. Unless you buy really expensive ones you lose about half of the energy putting it into and getting it back out. More losses if you are putting in AC and needing AC back out. And the really good (from an efficiency pov) lithium-ion batteries don't suffer many charge discharge cycles before hitting the 50% capacity point generally considered as replacement time. We currently have zero methods to store electricity that are cheap enough and effective enough for use on the grid. All electricity is generated as needed, with vast arrays of 'peaking power' generation capacity that largely sits idle. Believe me, if there were a good way to store electricity the industry would be using it already.

Worse, while electricity can be sent large distances, it is best to generate close to the point of use because of the line losses. So even if we were willing (and shot enough enviromentalists) to cover our deserts with solar arrays we would lose most of the power heating the lines getting it to where the customers are. Same for wind, it mostly occurs in areas where there aren't many people... or more accurately windmills near populated areas attracts more environmentalists.