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Rice-Sized Solar Panels Produced Noodle-Sized Power
Posted by Mark Wilson at 6:20 AM on November 8, 2008
Researchers from the University of South Florida have developed a minuscule solar panel that's just 1/4 the size of a grain of rice. Yet when you combine 20 or so of the cells, they can create 7.8 volts of electricity. Sounds good so far, right? It gets better.
The solar cells could easily be incorporated into coatings for buildings and clothing, they're build primarily from abundant and green components carbon and hydrogen, and it's believed that their efficiency could double in the next year.
I love wind power and find hydroelectric moderately interesting. But it's stories like this that get me ridiculously excited about the potential of solar. Oh, and I swear I thought solar was cool before Obama won the election or whatever.
OK, fine fine. I totally lied. I didn't hear about solar power until earlier this week. Are you happy now?? [Reuters]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
Posted 8:52 AM 8/11/08
@GiltProto: Um, but what else to you expect to know?
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
Opie
Posted 8:45 AM 8/11/08
GiltProto beat me to it. The article mentions nothing about the power output...only the voltage. 1 gazillion volts won't power anything if it can only provide .00001 Watts of power. Call me again when they tell us enough to get excited.
Opie
jdhuck
Posted 8:44 AM 8/11/08
@feckineejit: and of course by God, you mean Obama. Right?
jdhuck
Spliner
Posted 8:43 AM 8/11/08
So.. if we coated the entire surface of a car with these.. that would be like.. 7.8v x10,000 bundles.. we could have a car that runs 100% on solar and has a death ray under the hood??
Spliner
Jrsy is the dude, playin' the dude, disguised as another dude
Posted 8:42 AM 8/11/08
@highfloydelity: Yeah but those guys didn't have underwater wood-cutting robots...
Jrsy is the dude, playin' the dude, disguised as another dude
Gary_7vn
Posted 8:41 AM 8/11/08
@reddingofish: That's because solar power is BAD ... for EXXON.
Gary_7vn
feckineejit
Posted 8:40 AM 8/11/08
It's because it's magic and it's evil. Unless you have to dig it out of the ground and burn it most people don't want to use it. I hope to god that changes over the next few years.
feckineejit
GiltProto
Posted 8:40 AM 8/11/08
What'even more mazing is that if you put about 310 of the cells you'll get 120 volts, but still only provide the same puny current. Ok, that's not amazing, but either is mentioning only the voltage output of a solar cell.
GiltProto
hindsight2020
Posted 8:38 AM 8/11/08
@reddingofish: no, it's just that the no one has figured out how to bottle and sell the sun's energy for profit!
hindsight2020
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
Posted 8:34 AM 8/11/08
@reddingofish: Yeah, I think Mark lives under a rock.
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
highfloydelity
Posted 8:33 AM 8/11/08
@Ariel_Wollinger: "One interesting thing is that they don't rot underwater!!!"
Yep, there are businesses that go out and get the sunken logs and sell them. Apparently it's great wood. (that's what she said) I believe they showed it on Dirty Jobs?
highfloydelity
reddingofish
Posted 8:30 AM 8/11/08
I've been hearing about solar power since the seventies. Jimmy Carter even put some panels on the White House. We were all told that our houses would be solar powered by the next century. The house I live in now was built in the seventies and it was built with a solar powered water heater on it. There were solar powered cars and watches and calculators then the eighties came along and everything seemed to be forgotten.
reddingofish
bpapa9013
Posted 8:30 AM 8/11/08
@xsecretfiles2: Not sure, but I think it is what gives birdman his powers...
bpapa9013
bpapa9013
Posted 8:29 AM 8/11/08
@DrDonkeyKong: Are you having intercourse with the president-elect right now? Or just fantasizing about it?
bpapa9013
njso18
Posted 8:29 AM 8/11/08
what's electricity?
njso18
bpapa9013
Posted 8:28 AM 8/11/08
@Ariel_Wollinger: Some nations are endowed with more useful waterworks than others. What do you need with all that hydro when you already have all that ethanol?
j/k
bpapa9013
xsecretfiles2
Posted 8:26 AM 8/11/08
What's solar power?
xsecretfiles2
DrDonkeyKong
Posted 8:26 AM 8/11/08
omg yes OBAMA!!!!
DrDonkeyKong
Ariel_Wollinger
Posted 8:26 AM 8/11/08
Here in Brazil we rely mostly on hydroelectric power. the problem is that is cover a large area and many species have to be manually removed from their area to new areas. Now they are starting to use underwater robots to cut sunken wood. One interesting thing is that they don't rot underwater!!!
Ariel_Wollinger
whiteknight89
Posted 8:25 AM 8/11/08
Its good to be honest Mark. Didn't school teach you anything?
"I won't tell a lie.
I won't tell a lie.
I won't tell a lie..."
whiteknight89
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
Posted 9:05 AM 8/11/08
@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: This is probably why I'm in software, BTW.
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
Prey521
Posted 9:04 AM 8/11/08
Is that Obama on the rice box? :-p
Prey521
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
Posted 9:04 AM 8/11/08
@CaseyG: How would you know watts without a current?
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
CaseyG
Posted 8:59 AM 8/11/08
@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: Watts.
Volts are nice. Watts matter.
CaseyG
Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine
Posted 9:30 AM 8/11/08
@Stacky Botrus: I guess whoever was in charge of choosing names for compounds was out takin' a wiz XD
Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine
Stacky Botrus
Posted 9:28 AM 8/11/08
There is also that tech that coats a solar cell with carbonnanoblabla and makes it 96.7% efficient from ANY angle.
Now, thats the shit.
Stacky Botrus
taftsearlobe33
Posted 9:27 AM 8/11/08
@DrDonkeyKong: ummm Obama had nothing to do with this.
taftsearlobe33
Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine
Posted 9:23 AM 8/11/08
@DustyButt:
Coincidence?
I think not..
Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine
Loonie
Posted 9:19 AM 8/11/08
Most encouraging technological development.
Now...
Can we actually expect some kind of product to hit the market before the universe reaches maximum entropy?
Loonie
Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine
Posted 9:17 AM 8/11/08
@bpapa9013: lol
Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine
DustyButt
Posted 9:16 AM 8/11/08
@Prey521: Is that supposed to be funny? Because it's not.
Do you ask if a picture is of George W. Bush everytime you see an image of a white male?
Grow up.
DustyButt
Log1c
Posted 9:45 AM 8/11/08
@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: That is what he is saying. Just the voltage output is useless, we need to know either current out, and/or total watts out per unit area.
Simply, there is not enough info to complete the problem.
Log1c
DustyButt
Posted 10:22 AM 8/11/08
@Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine: That is so NOT Funny!
DustyButt
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
Posted 12:11 PM 8/11/08
@shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: That wasn't a compliment to myself, that was an insult.. aka, not a hardware person.
shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog
The Terminator
Posted 12:44 PM 8/11/08
Solar, shmolar! I love how everyone is like OMG tomorrow is here! I've read about the solar film that's cheap to make, solar shingles for your roof, the stuff that can capture energy from any angle or wavelength... blah blah blah.
Until someone actually brings a product to the consumer market that delivers on its claim it's all just hyperbole.
While I'm at it why don't I just claim to have invented a solar cell that can capture neutrinos and convert them into electricity. Haven't seen that one yet.
The Terminator
ManekiNeko
Posted 6:51 PM 8/11/08
Remember, with great solar power comes great responsibility. Wait, wrong Uncle Ben.
ManekiNeko
jacobestes
Posted 11:00 PM 8/11/08
@njso18: It's a jewish holiday.
jacobestes
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Posted 5:00 AM 9/11/08
@Kaiser-Machead's Cookie-Powered LEGO Machine: So why is one racist and the other not?
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Posted 4:59 AM 9/11/08
@Prey521: And still not disemvoweled? Somebody's asleep at the switch...
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Posted 4:57 AM 9/11/08
@feckineejit: People want what works. Coal, oil, natural gas, hydro-electric, and nuclear all work, and they all work NOW. Nobody's suppressing anything. When these new pie-in-the-sky methods become ready, they'll be totally accepted.
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Posted 4:50 AM 9/11/08
@reddingofish: And none of those things were popular or viable, and they still aren't. We are, however, getting closer.
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
livinzlife
Posted 11:59 AM 9/11/08
@Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler: perhaps only one race allows racism to exist..just playing devils advocate here..
livinzlife
livinzlife
Posted 11:58 AM 9/11/08
@jdhuck: 7219 people instantly committed suicide after reading that comment
livinzlife
altgrave
Posted 4:08 PM 9/11/08
@bpapa9013: to say nothing of our president-elect...
altgrave
fyredragon17
Posted 6:32 PM 9/11/08
Way to go USF students! (My excitement comes from being a current student there, LOL)
fyredragon17
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Posted 3:06 AM 10/11/08
@livinzlife: Which one?
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Posted 3:07 AM 10/11/08
@Stacky Botrus: It collects that much light, it is NOT that efficient. But it is a start.
Comrade GadgetPlay, Fellow Traveler
Themindtaker
Posted 11:53 PM 10/11/08
@xsecretfiles2: What's taters?
Themindtaker
ScruffytheJanitor
Posted 11:52 PM 10/11/08
@DrDonkeyKong: who let the obama out?
ScruffytheJanitor
MinskyBA
Posted 1:19 AM 12/11/08
NEW! It's Obama-brand Solar Power!
Now with 25% more Volts 'n' Stuff
Nothing against him, just making a funny. Wipe it down a notch, dusty.
MinskyBA