New Solar Cell Material Offers Both Cheap and Efficient Power

Another potential path for ever cheaper solar power is now being researched by scientists investigating the use of perovskite minerals to make solar cells. Perovskites are a very cheap material that have good light capturing properties as well as good conductivity. The advantage that perovskites offer is a great combination of inexpensive production combined with good efficiency in energy production.

Current laboratory experiment versions of perovskite-based solar cells have efficiencies of about 15 percent. Although there are other solar cells with greater efficiency, the figure for perovskite cells is higher than other cheap-to-manufacture methods.

The advantages provided with perovskite materials come from requiring a far less intensive manufacturing process. While fabricating silicon-based solar cells requires careful and expensive processing of silicon to a high degree of purity (not to mention the energy intensity of that manufacturing), cells using perovskites are made by spray applying materials to a glass or metal foil substrate, described as a "solar cell [that] can be fabricated as easily as painting a surface."

Perovskite-based solar cells might eventually be able to be produced for 10 to 20 cents per watt, as compared to present soalr panels which are around 75 cents per watt.

image: by Andrew Silver, USGS via Wikimedia Commons

via: MIT Technology Review

via Green Living - Building, Home, Auto & Lifestyles copy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/EcoGeek/~3/7dx8KI4uGNo/3900-new-solar-cell-material-offers-both-cheap-and-effi

Blu Homes Completes a Chalet in Colorado

One of our favorite prefab home designers, Blu Homes, just completed a home in Colorado at the beginning of the October. The Fischer Chalet, a modern green prefab home in Breckenridge, Colorado, is a perfect example of what Blu Homes is capable of. While designed as a custom home built with the Colorado climate in [...]

via Green Living - Building, Home, Auto & Lifestyles copy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lowimpactliving/~3/BCQP5PdVlCw/

Winning Homes of the 2009 Solar Decathlon

We’ve been watching in eager anticipation to find out which amazing solar powered green home would win this year’s Solar Decathlon. This year marks the fourth competition, with teams from around the world journeying to Washington DC to showcase their most technically advanced and energy efficient prefabricated homes. The best and brightest turned out this [...]

via Green Living - Building, Home, Auto & Lifestyles copy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lowimpactliving/~3/TBhgz_h6iag/

Blu Homes Acquires Green Prefab Pioneer mkDesigns

Blu Homes, a LIL favorite in the green prefab sector, announced today that they have purchased the assets of mkDesigns, the pioneering prefab company founded by architect Michelle Kaufmann that has been one of the most visible leaders in modular sustainable design. The plan is to bring some of mkDesigns' leading models (Glidehouse TM, mkLotus TM, Sunset Breezehouse) to customers around the country via Blu's proprietary manufacturing and building system innovations. This could be an intriguing combination, for mkDesigns and Blu were targeting different segments of the market and didn't overlap much.

via Green Living - Building, Home, Auto & Lifestyles copy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lowimpactliving/~3/S6id7C8HV_4/

Straw Bale Home in Sonoma County

Passive solar design is the most economical way to provide heat for a home and also reduce cooling loads. But what do you do when passive solar design is impractical because your lot or the surrounding terrain makes it challenging or impossible? You make sure the home is very well insulated and install a very [...]

via Green Living - Building, Home, Auto & Lifestyles copy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lowimpactliving/~3/xKqRHEOZssA/

New Green Product Reviews and Information

While it’s easier than it used to be to find truly green products out there, it’s still not that easy. It’s often hard to find that Energy Star label on appliances or home electronics, even if the product qualifies. And there seem to be five dubious green claims for every one legitimate one. Through time, better [...]

via Green Living - Building, Home, Auto & Lifestyles copy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lowimpactliving/~3/20YFkwTQqyg/

Tax Credits for Plug-In Hybrid Conversions

If you live in Colorado and own a Prius, here’s a New Year’s Day gift for you: $6,000 off a plug-in hybrid retrofit. Earlier this year, Colorado passed House Bill 1331, “Incentives for Efficient Motor Vehicles,” which creates new tax credits of up to $6,000 for the purchase of, or conversion to, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The new credit will be a substantial discount off the average price of a plug-in conversion, which generally run around $10-14,000. On top of the Federal Tax Credit of 10% (up to $4,000), plug-in retrofits could start to make a lot of sense for some car owners.

via Green Living - Building, Home, Auto & Lifestyles copy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lowimpactliving/~3/C0qLlOTYbvw/

New Guide to Cell Phone Radiation

Over 4 billion people in the world have cell phones. They’re handy, portable, inexpensive and we wonder how we even got along with out them before we had one. Cell phones are here to stay, there’s no doubt about that. But there are mounting concerns about the adverse health affects from radiation emitted from your [...]

via Green Living - Building, Home, Auto & Lifestyles copy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lowimpactliving/~3/5ReMDmbOPtc/

From Parking Lot to Paradise

Pavement is one of the defining characteristics of our urban existence. From pop-culture terms like “asphalt jungle” to the Joni Mitchell song and its famous lyrics about paving paradise for parking lots, pavement is often used as a symbol of both the progress and peril of our urbanizing ways. Unfortunately, all of this pavement is [...]

via Green Living - Building, Home, Auto & Lifestyles copy http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/lowimpactliving/~3/HRmrhD6190w/