Stanford Researchers Develop First All-Carbon Solar Cell

 Stanford Researchers Develop First All-Carbon Solar Cell  Energy, Mining and Sustainability, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Sustainable Technology, Zero Emissions  No Responses »
Nov 012012
 

Researchers at Stanford University developed a solar-powered generator made of purely carbon. This is also known as a photovoltaic cell, which is the most common type of solar-powered generator.

Stanford’s all-carbon solar cell. Image obtained with thanks from the Stanford website .

Photovoltaic cells are the electricity-generating parts of a solar panel. Solar panels are just a protective housing for solar cells, which are fragile semiconductor devices.

The significance of this invention is due to the abundance and low cost of carbon. Unlike typical silicon wafer solar cells which are often rigid, it is deposited onto a substrate (surface) from a liquid solution.

Thin film solar cells were invented long ago, but, this is just a perk which makes it easy to manufacture solar cells using small amounts of the semiconductor material required, and it facilitates the manufacture of flexible and non-flat solar panels in general.

Source: Stanford Website

 Posted by Nicholas on November 1, 2012

Scrap Metal Recycling Issues

 Scrap Metal Recycling Issues  Mining and Sustainability, Recycle  7 Responses »
Sep 302011
 

Hamilton Steel Mill. Image obtained with thanks from haglundc on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/haglundc/

There are scrap metal recycling firms that pay people to turn in materials such as copper, iron, lead, aluminium for recycling and this has unfortunately led too many people to destroy public and private property to obtain materials from it so they can sell it to the recycling firms mentioned above.

As sustainable and environmentally beneficial as recycling can be, scrap metal recycling programs need to be planned an executed in a sensible manner. Many people want to continue the current scrap metal recycling programs despite this, and many want to shut it down completely as if it cannot be done in a more sensible way. Both are wrong.

There are solutions to this problem:

  1. Stop paying people to turn in recycled materials. This completely eliminates the motive for stealing them for resale. Or at least stop paying people for the recycled materials that are most frequently stolen.
  2. Have the firms pick up the materials from people for free instead of using money as an incentive to get them to drop them off. As I said above, people are not to be paid for the materials.
  3. Occasionally advertise the scrap metal collection service as a way to take significant amounts of junk off people’s hands for free.
 Posted by Nicholas on September 30, 2011

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