Industrial Revolution of the 21st Century - Green Technology

With the new Obama administration focusing on going green, companies are realizing an opportunity to make a difference by foraying into "alternative energy technologies". Obama's new energy plan (as of June 2009) includes an investment of $ 150 billion over the next ten years in renewable resources. This is one of the most important steps to be taken to ensure that at least 10 % of our electricity comes from renewable resources by 2012 and at least 25 % by 2025. Well, the bad news is, in 2009, this number was just under 2 % (including Geothermal, Photovoltaics and Wind) - Monthly Energy Review magazine.

How can we account for such a huge difference in just 2 years? The answer lies in "competition". Solar (PV) and Wind energy sources have seen the most development in the past one year. This can be reflected in an increase in the number of start-ups manufacturing solar cells. Companies like Solyndra, Nanosolar and BrightSource are among the torchbearers. The reason I mentioned about these three companies is that, each one of them is different and more innovative than the other. While Solyndra and Nanosolar specialize in "thin film PV cells", Brightsource excels in "concentrating PV". Solyndra owes its success to the cylindrical shape of its PV cells, which helps in utilizing more of the incident sunlight to be converted into electricity, increasing the conversion efficiency. Nanosolar owes its success to the patented solar cell manufacturing process it has developed, which basically involves printing ink containing nanostructured solar cells on a substrate like "sheet of paper", allowing it to deliver one of the "world's least expensive PV cells". Brightsource has laid its feet on Solar-Thermal technology, which uses mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a boiler containing water, consequently producing superheated steam (550 degrees C) which is used to run turbines, thereby generating electricity. Talking about their success, Solyndra has recently filed for an IPO of $ 300 million and BrightSource has bagged a 1300 Megawatt project from PG&E, sufficient enough to power 530,000 homes.

We just talked about clean generation of electricity, but what about efficient usage of energy? Well, this is an era of LEDs and electric cars. LEDs are approximately 300 percent more efficient than incandescent bulbs and 15 percent more efficient than CFL. With recent innovation in LED technology by companies like Cree and Nichia, they are more than 500 percent more efficient than incandescent bulbs. That's like getting the same amount of light output by dissipating just one-fifth of the power used by an incandescent bulb. As far as fuel efficient cars are concerned, with introduction of Prius, we went from burning 20 mpg of gas to 50 mpg. With Tesla roadster, this number has risen to 135 mpg (equivalent to offering 250 mile range per 4-hour charge) and with their new "Model S", the new value is around 200 mpg (equivalent to offering 300 mile range per 1-hour charge). To keep up with the competition, car makers like GM and Fisker automotive are coming up with cheaper, more efficient solutions. Looks like we are finally going to save this planet from GLOBAL WARMING!!!