Light Cue 23

Solar Sunday is my weekly roundup of renewable energy and energy efficiency news from around the web.

New Solar Cells Increase Efficiency

In the new study, researchers describe lab tests of solar cells made with a new type of ruthenium-based dye that helps boost the light-harvesting ability. The new cells showed efficiencies as high as 10 percent, a record for this type of solar cell. Most silicon-based solar cells have so-called efficiencies of around 12 percent. But manufacturing silicon is not cheap. The current cost of electricity from silicon-based solar panels for houses or businesses is 25 cents to 40 cents per kilowatt-hour, roughly triple what most people pay their utility company.

Introducing the Emergency Response Studio

After Hurricane Katrina, Paul Villinski, a well-known New York-based artist, wanted to transport his studio to Louisiana to see the aftermath first-hand and create artwork in response. At the time he didn’t have a way do it, but since then has picked up a 30′ trailer, gutted it, and rebuilt it to be green, non-toxic and off-grid. The Emergency Response Studio is now a totally self-sufficient traveling artist studio outfitted with solar panels, a wind turbine, non-toxic furnishings, and plenty of space to create.

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While this trailer was originally designed as an artist’s studio, it also serves as a model for off-grid mobile housing and emergency shelters. These trailers could even be transformed in a cost-effective manner if built or retrofitted in numbers. Villinski, who often takes empty aluminum cans and turns them into art, says that “In a sense this FEMA trailer is just a really big beer can I’m transforming into something of beauty.”

The Emergency Response Studio will be on exhibition in New Orleans starting November 1st for the Prospect .1 New Orleans show featuring contemporary art from international artists. The show aims to revitalize the city by establishing New Orleans as a center for contemporary art, showcasing historical architecture, exposing the people of New Orleans to new art, educating students, and developing a new tourism attraction for the city. The Emergency Response Studio will be stationed at various locations around the city until January 18th, 2009.

California Goes Solar

California’s first solar thermal plant in 20 years recently launched in Bakersfield, helping to usher the golden state into a new era of renewable energy. Designed by Ausra, the Kimberlina solar thermal plant will utilize 1,000-foot long mirrors to convert the sun’s rays into energy. The new plant is the first of it’s kind in North America and was constructed in just seven months.

Green Is Good For Health, And In Other News, The Sky Is Blue

Childhood obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes, asthma, hypertension, sleep apnea and emotional distress. Obese children and youth are likely to be obese as adults, experience more cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and stroke and incur higher healthcare costs. In an article published in the December 2008 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers report that children living in inner city neighborhoods with higher “greenness” experienced lower weight gains compared to those in areas with less green space.

Intel Invests In Solar

Shrugging off gloom over the economic outlook, Intel Capital on Tuesday announced its first “clean-tech” initiative in China, a $20 million equity investment in Trony Solar Holdings Co., one of China’s biggest makers of solar energy and wind power equipment.

No Drilling for Germany, Let’s Talk About Off-Shore Wind Farms

Germany opened its first offshore wind farm Tuesday which Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel called a key step toward more reliance on renewable energy in Europe’s biggest economy.
Gabriel pressed the start button at the Hooksiel complex some 500 metres (500 yards) off Germany’s North Sea coast.

The five megawatts produced at the pilot site will flow into the gas and electrical station in the coastal city of Wilhelmshaven, enough to serve 5,000 households.

“Offshore wind power is of key importance for our future energy supply and a decisive factor in achieving our expansion goals for renewable energy,” Gabriel said.

Buddhists Go Green

The Wat Pa Maha Chedio Kaew temple has found a way to bottle-up Nirvana, literally. The temple, which sits in Thaisland’s Sisaket province, roughly 370 miles northeast of Bangkok is made of more than a million recycled glass bottles. True to its nickname, “Wat Lan Kuad” or “Temple of Million Bottles” features glass bottles throughout the premises of the temple, including the crematorium, surrounding shelters, and yes – even the toilets. There’s an estimated 1.5 million recycled bottles built into the temple, and as you might have guessed, they are committed to recycling more. After all, the more bottles they get, the more buildings they are able to construct.