Veamos los hechos:
A lo largo de varias decadas, varios responsables politicos de gobierno con diferentes signos, han encargado estudiar este proyecto. A raiz de estos estudios este proyecto ha sido rechazado

AVF lleva afirmando desde hace años, que ha firmado acuerdos para construir plantas desaladoras en varios lugares del mundo y con varias empresas. Sin embargo, nadie ha firmado con nada con AVF, y no se ha siquiera iniciado la construcción de ninguna planta.

No obstante, AVF le da la vuelta a los hechos y se declara vencedor de esta contienda.


Como inventor no vale nada, pero como novelista no tiene precio.

Estoy totalmente de acuerdo contigo en que la ley de Betz supone un límite teórico en condiciones ideales. Por tanto, nada que decir al respecto.


Ahora bien, creo haber leído por algún lado (ahora mismo no recuerdo en donde) que el efecto fricción o rozamiento en los aerogeneradores podría llegar suponer un descenso en su eficiencia de un 10 a un 15%. O lo que sería lo mismo que decir que necesitamos mayor intensidad del viento para producir la misma energía.


Sí con un simple lubricante (sin necesidad de ningún tipo de modificación) logramos aumentar la eficiencia, es lo mismo que decir que ese molinillo podría estar produciendo energía en condiciones de ventosidad en las que antes no le era posible y, por tanto, el binomio coste/energía producida que tú mencionas, se verá claramente favorecido. Naturalmente suponiendo que el coste del lubricante es menor que el coste del incremento de la energía producida.


Un saludo

Pilas para el tercer mundo, y para el resto también.



Inhabitat SunCat: Solar Batteries Powered by Sunshine

Flexible Solar Panels roll into green AA batteries EnviroGadget

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Fuente: Energías Renovables. Erenovable




Fuente más detallada y en la que se aclara cómo se podría sobrepasar el límite teórico del 31%, (en inglés): Super Solar Cells? Certain Nanocrystals Shown To Generate More Than One Electron

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Parece que el carbono no es tan malo, quieren fabricar combustible con el.

Las distribuidoras energéticas se niegan a morir.


Carbon Sciences - News

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¿Torre solar en Australia?, ya veremos.

Business 2.0: How Australia got hot for solar power - Aug. 2, 2006

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¿Se sabe algo de la de Fuente el Fresno, en C.Real?

Probablemente el siguiente artículo esté plagado de inconsistencias científicas pero no deja de ser interesante

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Fuente: ISon21 Blog Archive Mitsubishi bate su propio récord de eficiencia con células fotovoltaicas

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El día Nicolas Morgan prometió que crearía un elemento óptico de concentración que no necesitase de complicados sistemas, casi la mitad de sus compañero se mueren de risas y la otra mitad lo insulto en su cara, llamándole “friki”.
Creo que más de uno se le ha quedado la sonrisa helada.


Nicolas Morgan holds up a square piece of clear, molded acrylic about a centimeter thick and shines a penlight directly at its flat surface. A green beam enters the acrylic and bends toward the center of the square. Morgan repeats the process at different points on the surface, and each time, the beam darts toward the center.
The acrylic component--called a Light-Guide Solar Optic (LSO)--is a new **** of solar concentrator that could significantly lower the cost of generating electricity from the sun. Unlike existing designs, there's no need for mirrors, complex optics, or chemicals to trap and manipulate the light. "It's pure geometric optics," says Morgan, director of business development at Toronto-based Morgan Solar.
Solar concentrators have emerged in recent years as a way to intensify the amount of sunlight hitting solar cells, which are the most expensive part of solar panels. To make solar power more affordable, engineers have sought to use less solar-cell material by concentrating sunlight onto much smaller spaces.
But this approach has its own challenges. Most concentrators tend to be complex systems that use special lenses, curved mirrors, and other optical components with a "nonzero" focal length. This means that there must be enough distance--an air gap--between the solar cell and the optic to properly focus the light. As a result, concentrator-based systems are usually packaged within bulky enclosures, with enough depth to accommodate the focal length and protect all components during shipping. This means higher material and assembly costs and more expensive shipping.
A couple of years ago, Nicolas's brother John Paul Morgan came up with the idea of a solid-state solar concentrator system: a flat, thin acrylic optic that traps light and guides it toward its center. Embedded in the center of Morgan Solar's concentrator is a secondary, round optic made of glass. With a flat bottom and convex, mirrored top, the optic receives the incoming barrage of light at a concentration of about 50 suns and amplifies it to nearly 1,000 suns before bending the light through a 90-degree angle.
Unlike other concentrators, the light doesn't leave the optic before striking a solar cell. Instead, a high-efficiency cell about the size of an infant's thumbnail is bonded directly to the center bottom of the glass optic, where it absorbs the downward-bent light. There's no air gap, and there's no chance of fragile components being knocked out of alignment.
"It's all about critically controlling the angles once the light enters the first optic," explains Nicolas Morgan. The design takes advantage of a phenomenon called total internal reflection--the angle at which a beam of light inside an optical material will reflect back into the material rather than escape.
The trick is to mold the acrylic such that it bends the light in a certain direction when it enters the first optic. It must assure that the light maintains that angle to prevent it from escaping and guide it to the glass optic at the center. Precision is crucial--not just in the design of the optics, but also in creating the molds to mass-produce them.
The company expects that its first commercial versions of the system will be composed of acrylic wafers about eight square inches in size containing a secondary glass optic that's about twice the diameter of a nickel.
Ray LaPierre, a professor of engineering physics at McMaster University, in Ontario, Canada, and an expert in high-efficiency solar cells, first saw Morgan Solar's LSO proto**** in December at a Canadian solar conference and walked away impressed. "Their design is certainly novel, is physically sound, can be cheaply manufactured, and has a good chance to revolutionize concentrator [technology] " says LaPierre.
But like other PV concentrators, Morgan Solar's technology still requires a tracking system to keep it facing the sun. Researchers at MIT have eliminated the need for trackers by developing special dye coatings that can absorb diffuse light, but Morgan Solar's technology is closer to market. Nicolas Morgan adds that trackers today are precise, reliable, and add "marginal" cost for 44 percent more power. Some business and engineering decisions must still be made, but he expects that the company will be able to build its system for less than $1 per watt by 2011--"and with some vertical integration, considerably less." This would lead to a product close to 30 percent efficient at costs competitive with thin film.
"I think the concept should be pursued," says engineering professor Roland Winston, an expert in nonimaging optics at the University of California, Merced. He does, however, question the use of acrylic as a concentrator material: "Acrylic has not been proven for long-term use, especially under concentrated sunlight."
John Paul Morgan says that's the main reason why the company is using both acrylic and glass in its system. The company has intentionally limited concentrations within the acrylic portion to 50 suns and has the smaller glass optic doing the heavy lifting. "We want this system to last for 25 years, so we're trying to really understress the material," he says. "Once we've proven we can push the acrylic further, we're going to shrink the glass optic."
A number of pilot projects planned for 2009 will test the concentrator in the field. The company expects commercial production to begin sometime in 2010.

Technology Review: A Cheaper Solar Concentrator

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