June 2010 Budget Statement - key announcements for energy and climate change

June 2010 Budget - key announcements for energy and climate change

The Budget sets out a comprehensive and credible plan to deal with the nation's debts and significantly accelerate the reduction in the budget deficit over the course of this Parliament.  Deficit reduction and ensuring economic recovery are the most urgent issues facing the UK and the Government's top priorities. 

The Prime Minister has pledged to make this the greenest government ever.  The Government believes that climate change is one of the most serious threats that the world faces.  This includes reducing the Government's own emissions by ten per cent between mid-May 2010 and mid-May 2011.

The Government is committed to playing its part in moving to a low-carbon economy.  This transition will change the shape of industry, growth and jobs in the future.  As part of this, the UK needs £200 billion of investment to 2020 to provide secure low-carbon energy.  This will require reform of the energy market and action to attract additional private sector funding.

The Budget sets out key steps towards this goal: assessing how the energy tax framework can provide the right incentives for investment, alongside wider market reforms.  In the autumn, the Government will publish proposals to reform the climate change levy in order to provide more certainty and support to the carbon price. Subject to consultation, the Government intends to bring forward relevant legislation in Finance Bill 2011. putting forward detailed proposals on the creation of a Green Investment Bank, following the Spending Review, to help the UK meet the low-carbon investment challenge.

The Government is considering a range of options for the scope and structure of the Green Investment Bank; and establishing a Green Deal for households through legislation in the Energy Security and Green Economy Bill, to help individuals invest in home energy efficiency improvements that can pay for themselves from the savings in energy bills.  The Government will also continue to progress work on creating green financial products to provide individuals with opportunities to invest in the infrastructure necessary to support the green economy.

The Government will make the tax system fairer. The Budget covers: fair fuel stabiliser.  The Chancellor will ask the Office for Budget Responsibility to undertake an assessment over the summer of the effect of oil price fluctuations on the public finances.  Informed by this assessment, the Government will examine options for the design of a fair fuel stabiliser; remote rural areas.  The Government is considering the case for introducing a fuel duty discount in remote rural areas, including possible pilot schemes in Scotland; and aviation taxation.  The Government will explore changes to the aviation tax system, including switching from a per-passenger to a per-plane duty, which could encourage fuller planes.  Major changes will be subject to public consultation.

The Budget confirms some previous announcements, that the Government will: include nitrous oxide gases in the EU Emissions Trading System from 2011; reduce the discount from the climate change levy for industries participating in a climate change agreement from 80 to 65 per cent in April 2011, and increase the climate change levy in line with inflation; increase the standard rate of landfill tax by £8 per tonne on 1 April 2011 until at least 2014, and introduce a floor so that that the rate will not fall below £80 per tonne until at least 2020; increase aggregates levy to £2.10 per tonne in 2011; introduce an enhanced capital allowance for zero-carbon goods vehicles from April 2010; introduce exceptional rates of vehicle excise duty for certain heavy goods vehicles from April 2011; and reform company car tax so that it continues to provide an incentive to purchase the lowest emitting vehicles on the market.

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Life of plastic solar cell jumps from hours to 8 months

A team of researchers from the University of Alberta and the National Institute for Nanotechnology has extended the operating life of an unsealed plastic solar cell, from mere hours to eight months.

The research groups' development of an inexpensive, readily available plastic solar cell technology hit a wall because of a chemical leeching problem within the body of the prototype. A chemical coating on an electrode was unstable and migrated through the circuitry of the cell.

The team led by U of A and NINT chemistry researcher David Rider, developed a longer lasting, polymer coating for the electrode. Electrodes are key to the goal of a solar energy technology, extracting electricity from the cell.

Prior to the polymer coating breakthrough the research team's plastic solar cell could only operate at high capacity for about ten hours.

When Rider and his research co authors presented their paper to the journal, Advanced Functional Materials, their plastic solar cell had performed at high capacity for 500 hours. But it kept on working for another seven months. The team says the unit eventually stopped working when it was damaged during transit between laboratories.

The collaborative research by Jillian Buriak, Michael J. Brett Rider, Rider's colleagues at the University of Alberta and the National Institute for Nanotechnology will be published June 22 in the journal, Advanced Functional Materials.

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Japan pledges to pass delayed climate bill this year

Japan's government has run out of time to enact its proposed climate bill ahead of the country's elections to be held next month, but has promised to pass the legislation before the COP16 climate talks in Mexico later this year.

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Banks head for the Med in search of carbon offset rewards

The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced yesterday that it is to team up with a group of financial institutions to launch a Mediterranean Carbon Fund worth up to €200m (£167m) and designed to funnel investment into clean tech projects in the southern and eastern Mediterranean.

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Towards nanowire solar cells with a 65-percent efficiency

Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/) researchers want to develop solar cells with an efficiency of over 65 percent by means of nanotechnology.

In Southern Europe and North Africa these new solar cells can generate a substantial portion of the European demand for electricity.

The current thin-film solar cells (type III/V) have an efficiency that lies around 40 percent, but they are very expensive and can only be applied as solar panels on satellites. By using mirror systems that focus one thousand times they can now also be deployed on earth in a cost-effective manner. The TU/ researchers expect that in ten years their nano-structured solar cells can attain an efficiency of more than 65 percent. Jos Haverkort: "If the Netherlands wants to timely participate in a commercial exploitation of nanowire solar cells, there is a great urgency to get on board now." The research is conducted together with Philips MiPlaza.

They think that nanotechnology, in combination with the use of concentrated sunlight through mirror systems, has the potential to lead to the world's most efficient solar cell system with a cost price lower than 50 cent per Watt peak. In comparison: for the present generation of solar cells that cost price is 1.50 euro per Watt peak.
Stacking Nanowires make it possible to stack a number of subcells (junctions). In this process each subcell converts one color of sunlight optimally to electricity. The highest yield reported until now in a nanowire solar cell is 8.4 percent. Haverkort: "We expect that a protective shell around the nanowires is the critical step towards attaining the same efficiency with nanowire solar cells as with thin-film cells." Haverkort thinks that at 5 to 10 junctions he will arrive at an efficiency of 65 percent.

Scarcity of raw materials In addition, the researchers expect considerable savings can be made on production costs, because nanowires grow on a cheap silicon substrate and also grow faster, which results in a lower cost of ownership of the growth equipment. What is more, the combination of the mirror systems with nanotechnology will imply an acceptable use of the scarce and hence expensive metals gallium and indium.
An agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, will grant the EUR 1.2 million to researchers dr. Jos Haverkort, dr. Erik Bakkers en dr. ir. Geert Verbong for their research into nanowire solar cells. It is their expectation that, when combined with mirror systems, these solar cells can generate a sizeable portion of the European electricity demand in Southern Europe and North Africa.

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Highly efficient solar cells could result from quantum dot research

Conventional solar cell efficiency could be increased from the current limit of 30 percent to more than 60 percent, suggests new research on semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu at The University of Texas at Austin.

The scientists have discovered a method to capture the higher energy sunlight that is lost as heat in conventional solar cells.

The maximum efficiency of the silicon solar cell in use today is about 31 percent. That's because much of the energy from sunlight hitting a solar cell is too high to be turned into usable electricity. That energy, in the form of so-called "hot electrons," is lost as heat.

If the higher energy sunlight, or more specifically the hot electrons, could be captured, solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency could be increased theoretically to as high as 66 percent.

"There are a few steps needed to create what I call this 'ultimate solar cell,'" says Zhu, professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Materials Chemistry. "First, the cooling rate of hot electrons needs to be slowed down. Second, we need to be able to grab those hot electrons and use them quickly before they lose all of their energy."

Zhu says that semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, are promising for these purposes.
As for the first problem, a number of research groups have suggested that cooling of hot electrons can be slowed down in semiconductor nanocrystals.

In a 2008 paper in Science, a research group from the University of Chicago showed this to be true unambiguously for colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals.

Zhu's team has now figured out the next critical step: how to take those electrons out.
They discovered that hot electrons can be transferred from photo-excited lead selenide nanocrystals to an electron conductor made of widely used titanium dioxide.
"If we take the hot electrons out, we can do work with them," says Zhu. "The demonstration of this hot electron transfer establishes that a highly efficient hot carrier solar cell is not just a theoretical concept, but an experimental possibility."

The researchers used quantum dots made of lead selenide, but Zhu says that their methods will work for quantum dots made of other materials, too.

He cautions that this is just one scientific step, and that more science and a lot of engineering need to be done before the world sees a 66 percent efficient solar cell. In particular, there's a third piece of the science puzzle that Zhu is working on: connecting to an electrical conducting wire.

"If we take out electrons from the solar cell that are this fast, or hot, we also lose energy in the wire as heat," says Zhu. "Our next goal is to adjust the chemistry at the interface to the conducting wire so that we can minimize this additional energy loss. We want to capture most of the energy of sunlight. That's the ultimate solar cell.

"Fossil fuels come at a great environmental cost," says Zhu. "There is no reason that we cannot be using solar energy 100 percent within 50 years."

Funding for this research was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. Coauthors include William Tisdale, Brooke Timp, David Norris and Eray Aydil from the University of Minnesota, and Kenrick Williams from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Internet's energy consumption growing

The internet's energy consumption is growing exponentially, a recent piece of research has revealed. 

According to scientists at the Universities of Leeds and Cambridge, the internet currently uses between three and five per cent of the world's global electricity supply.

They have now undertaken a project entitled Intelligent Energy Aware Networks (INTERNET) in a bid to reduce the internet's dependency on non-renewable energy sources and cut down its carbon footprint.
Professor Jaafar Elmirghani, lead investigator on the project, commented: "The predicted future growth in the number of connected devices, and of the bandwidth of the internet of an order of magnitude or two, is not practical if it leads to a corresponding growth in energy consumption."

A recent study from Greenpeace revealed that the growing popularity of cloud computing could see data centres and telecommunication centres consume more than triple their current rate of electricity by 2020.

"As the cloud expands, the IT industry's appetite for energy will increase, making it a major source of climate change unless the industry adopts and advocates renewable energy use and backs laws to cut global warming," said Casey Harrell, a campaigner for Greenpeace International.

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Carbon-negative store extension built in Durham

An extension of a supermarket in Durham is set to reduce the building's original energy consumption. 

Sainsbury's has announced that the construction project will be the "UK's first carbon-negative extension".
Despite adding 50 per cent more space to the site, the building's energy consumption will fall by ten per cent.
According to Sainsbury's, this has been achieved by using onsite renewable energy generation and new technology for refrigeration.

The news comes as part of the company's report on its corporate responsibilities.

It was also revealed to be the UK's largest retailer of higher welfare Freedom Food endorsed by the RSPCA.

Sainsbury's customer director, Gwyn Burr, said: "We are proud to be recognised as Britain's biggest retailer of Freedom Food meat, fish and poultry.

"Our leadership in animal welfare comes despite the tough economic conditions, with customers continuing to seek out value without compromising on what they believe in."

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Sustainable Energy Security

Thank you for inviting me here today. I’m please to be speaking at this event that focuses on the heart of one of the biggest challenges facing Government – the issue of energy security and how we decarbonise society.One of the first things David Cameron did was visit DECC.he rightly said that we will be the greenest government ever seen. I for one share that commitment.

This is a green coalition with a shared priority. Both to create a low carbon economy to meet the urgent challenge of climate change and to help achieve energy security. Our commitment to meeting energy demand and securing our fuel supply is clearly set out in the Coalition’s Programme for Government. Low carbon technologies have an important role to play, not only in meeting our climate targets, but also in building recovery from recession and creating new jobs and new industries in the coming decades.

The challenge

We are facing the greatest energy challenge of our lifetimes – Over the next 10-15 years we will need £200bn of new investment.
The challenge was enormous before the global economic downturn changed expectations, priorities - whole businesses if you will. The energy industry felt that pinch. Volatile oil and share prices - with tighter credit conditions - led to a string of companies reviewing their investment programmes. We need this international investment – we need to make Britain an attractive place to invest.

The gulf spill

The Lloyds and Chatham House Report ‘Sustainable Energy Security’ highlights the challenges in the oil and gas sector, and given the terrible events recently in the Gulf of Mexico, this seems to be an appropriate place to start.

Global oil demand could rise by a quarter in the next 20 years. In fact, it is estimated that 3 million barrels per day of new oil capacity must be added each year to maintain production at current levels. That’s faster than anticipated economic growth.

And global gas demand could increase by 40 per cent by 2030.Significant investment is required to maintain the current levels. Investment to the tune of some $5 trillion is required. And this gas is often in the most hard to reach places.

That challenge has undoubtedly increased as a result of the terrible events in the Gulf of Mexico. Tragically 11 people lost their lives and the full extent of the environmental impact is not yet known. And yet as critical as these are - they are not the only ramifications to look at.

“This is a green coalition with a shared priority. Both to create a low carbon economy to meet the urgent challenge of climate change and to help achieve energy security.”(Charles Hendry, Minister for Energy)
I appreciate there has never been such a deep leak before with so many complications. And in that respect I think it is important to recognise the work of the whole oil industry, in bringing together cutting-edge technology from around the world, to provide an intermediate - and ultimately a long term solution, to this terrible disaster.

We have been looking at how the UK can help. We want to help in any way so we have been working closely with colleagues in the US. Not only by offering advice, but by also by offering 600 tonnes of dispersant.

We believe that, although the UK is not responsible for the clean up, we must return to stability in the oil market as quickly as possible - because that is in all of our interests.

We have a national interest in optimising the oil and gas extraction from the North Sea. To achieve that we must carefully look at our own regulatory system in light of this disaster. One of the features of the US regulatory system is that the same agency, is responsible for regulating both operations and safety.
In the UK these operations were separated out into separate agencies – now DECC and the HSE – after the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988, so the UK regulatory regime is inherently in better shape. Nevertheless, the Secretary of State has ordered an urgent review, so we can all be re-assured that our existing UK offshore regime, is fit for purpose.

Initial steps are already under way, including plans to double the number of annual inspections to drilling rigs. And the launch of a new industry group to look at the UK’s ability to prevent and respond to oil spills.

And back to the challenge...

But perhaps one of the most important geopolitical lessons from this is that energy policy must be resilient to external shocks. We all saw how exposed our gas supplies have been over three of the last four winters – on each occasion, because of an external factor. And because UK oil and gas production is in decline. The share of imports in our overall energy mix is set to increase by around 60 per cent over the next 10 years.
The global nature of energy markets and our increasing reliance on energy imports mean that our overall energy security – ensuring we have access to the energy we need, at stable and affordable prices - is heavily dependent on international issues.

As astutely seen in your report, this energy challenge is immense. It comes at a time when we need both energy security and a low carbon future. These are not conflicting priorities, but developing low carbon sources of energy supply will enhance our energy security.

So how do we move forward?

The whole world is seeking cheaper, cleaner and capable technologies. And the expertise to build them. Our clear intention is that the UK should be leading this process.

Domestically, we need a combination of dynamic markets and a state playing a strategic role to tackle the challenge. And as long as fossil fuels remain a part of the energy mix, for a couple of decades at least, more efficient low carbon technology plays an important role in reducing carbon emissions.

The starting point must be energy efficiency. ‘Green Deal’ , which will be backed up by legislation this year, will encourage home energy efficiency improvements; and take measures to improve energy efficiency in businesses and public sector buildings to help reduce demand at home. Reducing energy bills clearly makes fundamental sense.

Then we must build new low-carbon sources of generation. Nuclear power - as long as it can demonstrate that it can be viable without public subsidy - has a role to play in our energy mix. In parallel with a massive expansion in other low carbon technologies, including renewables and CCS.

But let me be clear. It will be for private sector energy companies to construct, operate and decommission new nuclear plants. And conversations I’ve had with companies suggest they are willing to invest without public subsidy. Though we will have a role in removing any obstacles, such as a carbon floor price for example to bring on all forms of low carbon technology. And it will be for the Government to ensure appropriate levels of safety, security and environmental regulation.

It also means moving forward on emerging technologies such as CCS, and give new opportunities for fossil fuels in the energy mix. Britain should be leading the world on CCS. Moving ahead as quickly as possible with our programme of four demonstrations is vital to maintaining that lead.

CCS is essential in mitigating climate change whilst maintaining energy security. The UK is working with China on the Near Zero Emissions Coal project, which aims to develop and demonstrate CCS in China. Closer to home we have funded jointly with Norway the ‘One North Sea’ study looking at the crucial role of the North sea in the deployment of CCS in Europe. And we have said there will be four CCS demonstration projects to consolidate the UK’s lead in this area.

In the shorter term, we realise we will be increasingly reliant on gas. Although imports are not themselves a problem, our growing dependence on them, means our storage capacity must increase significantly.
Potential renewable energy is in abundance, but so far the UK has not realised its potential. We are the 2nd worst performer in the EU, but we have the resources – over 40% of the EU’s wind resource is in the UK, and we have the largest tidal resources in Europe. We need more on and offshore wind, a massive increase in energy from waste, and faster development in marine energy, such as wave and tidal, if they are to develop in 10-15 years time. Again, the UK should be leading the world in these new technologies.

We are lucky to have such a uniquely rich wave and tidal resource. I want to see much more development of this industry over the coming decade. The world’s first full-scale wave and tidal stream devices are British innovations. They show we have the skills and ‘know how’ to be a world-leader in Marine energy and we want to make sure these factors make the UK the most attractive place in the world to invest. But to be in that position we must progress engineering skills and our maritime history and expertise. To harness this opportunity, secures valuable energy. It means greater energy security, new jobs and economic regeneration.
If the wave and tidal sector is to move through to commercial demonstration and deployment over the next few years, we will need to work closely with the sector to maximise the great potential we already have in the UK. We are currently considering in detail how creating a network of marine energy parks can work to push the sector forward.

Each marine energy park will be unique and different; building on the strengths of the region in which it is based. They will bring together a whole range of complementary factors, like opportunities for real deployment of marine renewable technologies. But also grid availability, testing facilities.

We have inherited ambitious targets, which are a good thing. But, we need roadmaps to show us how we will get there, how we will deliver. We want to be sure we are on track and we need Government drive to identify pressure points, and to work with the industry to make sure we address them. So we welcome important role the Office of Renewable Energy Development in DECC will play.

And we know offshore wind will be very significant in the energy mix. The UK has installed more capacity of offshore wind than any other country. We also have the highest RCA, with exports in 2008-09 of £1.4 billion. Domestically five wind farm developments - off the coasts of Suffolk, Kent, Cumbria and in Liverpool Bay were recently given the go-ahead to extend their area, creating an extra 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of power.

The low carbon era

Embracing a low carbon economy will be as momentous as the previous industrial revolutions. As the shift from coal to oil did. And the shift from gas light to electric light. It has the potential to give us the competitive edge in the new global economy. The scale of the challenge is extraordinary. We will need to reinvent in the way we live our lives, the way our world works.

As your report states, the low carbon market is worth £112 billion per year. An increase of £5 billion per year since 2008. And that is set to rise by £48 billion per year by 2015. We export more goods in this sector than we import. And our biggest export markets in this sector are China Spain, South Korea Malaysia, and India – countries where energy demand is set to increase dramatically.

The Government is determined to secure those low carbon jobs for Britain. Just under a million people work in the low carbon sector

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Investors step up climate change demands

The proportion of institutional investors who consider firms' climate change policies when making investment decisions has more than doubled in the past two years, according to a new survey from the Institutional Investors Group in Climate Change (IIGCC).

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Sanyo to invest $555m in rapid solar expansion

Competition in the European solar energy market is set to increase after Sanyo Electric Co announced late last night that it aims to grow sales at its European solar cell and other energy-related businesses to €800m (£661m) by March 2016, a three fold increase on 2009 levels.

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UK steps up calls for the EU to embrace tougher carbon target

Energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne will today attend his first meeting of EU environment ministers where he is expected to reiterate the UK government's view that Europe should sign up to more ambitious emission reduction targets.

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Imec significantly reduces cost of germanium-based thermophotovoltaic cells

Imec presents an improved processing technique for germanium-based thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells resulting in significant reduction of cell cost, an essential step to develop a market for thermophotovoltaic applications. Imec's newly developed TPV cells are fabricated on germanium substrates with an optimized surface, specifically designed and manufactured for this application.

Thermophotovoltaic cells convert radiation from heat sources with a temperature lower than the sun's temperature. TPV cells are ideally suited to be used in an industrial context, for example to generate electricity from waste heat released during steel or glass production. Alternatively, TPV cells can be added to domestic heating systems to co-generate electricity besides hot water. TPV cells may therefore reduce the waste and hence increase the efficiency of domestic heating systems.

However, due to the overall complexity of a full TPV system and the relatively high cost of existing suitable cells, TPV systems are yet to find entrance to industrial and consumer applications. Imec's newly developed fabrication process is an important first step in opening up the market potential for this very promising technology.

The emission peak of selective emitters typically used in TPV systems is close to the bandgap of germanium. Therefore, germanium photovoltaic devices are well suited as receivers for this type of systems.

Germanium-based TPV cells were up to now fabricated on epi-ready substrates marketed for the epitaxial growth of III-V layers. However, Imec's processing method does not involve any epitaxial deposition steps, as the emitter is formed by diffusion and passivation obtained by using amorphous Si.

During a research program, specifically designed Ge substrates for this application were manufactured and tested. Spectral response measurements comparing the traditional TPV cells starting from epi-ready substrates with TPV cells defined on specifically engineered Ge substrates show that the latter have a remarkably better quantum efficiency. This directly translates into a higher waste heat to electricity conversion efficiency.

Jef Poortmans, Director Photovoltaics at imec: "Imec's research into photovoltaics aims at finding techniques to fabricate cost efficient and more efficient solar cells. We have built up a strong expertise in silicon solar cells of more than 25 years. We successfully used this knowledge for our TPV research. We applied imec's proprietary surface passivation techniques, novel contacting technologies and material knowledge to improve the quantum efficiency of our TPV cells, resulting in higher cell performance and cost reduction."

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Chris Huhne attends first EU climate meeting

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne will attend his first meeting of EU Environment Ministers on Friday 11 June in Luxembourg.

On the agenda will be the European Commission’s recent paper on the moving beyond a 20% EU emissions reduction target, as well as a discussion on the state of play of the international climate negotiations.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Energy and Climate Secretary Chris Huhne said:

“I’ll be using my first meeting of EU environment ministers to make clear the new UK Government’s support for ambitious European action on climate change, including a 30% cut in EU emissions. The Commission’s recent analysis provides a welcome starting point as we discuss how to implement a higher target.

“We believe a move to 30% is achievable, right for the climate and right for our economies as Europe focuses on a sustainable economic recovery. We can put Europe ahead of the game by taking new low carbon economic opportunities.

“Europe must take a lead in securing an international climate agreement though we can’t just click our fingers and hope the rest of the world will follow. We’ve got to make real emission cuts at home, and work constructively with all other nations in achieving that ambitious deal.”

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Nanocoax solves solar cell thick and thin dilemma

A nano-scale solar cell inspired by the coaxial cable offers greater efficiency than any previously designed nanotech thin film solar cell by resolving the "thick & thin" challenge inherent to capturing light and extracting current for solar power, Boston College researchers report in the current online edition of the journal Physica Status Solidi.

The quest for high power conversion efficiency in most thin film solar cells has been hampered by competing optical and electronic constraints. A cell must be thick enough to collect a sufficient amount of light, yet it needs to be thin enough to extract current.

Physicists at Boston College found a way to resolve the "thick & thin" challenge through a nanoscale solar architecture based on the coaxial cable, a radio technology concept that dates back to the first trans-Atlantic communications lines laid in the mid 1800s.

"Many groups around the world are working on nanowire-type solar cells, most using crystalline semiconductors," said co-author Michael Naughton, a professor of physics at Boston College. "This nanocoax cell architecture, on the other hand, does not require crystalline materials, and therefore offers promise for lower-cost solar power with ultrathin absorbers. With continued optimization, efficiencies beyond anything achieved in conventional planar architectures may be possible, while using smaller quantities of less costly material."

Optically, the so-called nanocoax stands thick enough to capture light, yet its architecture makes it thin enough to allow a more efficient extraction of current, the researchers report in PSS's Rapid Research Letters. This makes the nanocoax, invented at Boston College in 2005 and patented last year, a new platform for low cost, high efficiency solar power.

Constructed with amorphous silicon, the nanocoax cells yielded power conversion efficiency in excess of 8 percent, which is higher than any nanostructured thin film solar cell to date, the team reported.

The ultra-thin nature of the cells reduces the Staebler-Wronski light-induced degradation effect, a major problem with conventional solar cells of this type, according to the team, which included Boston College Professors of Physics Krzysztof Kempa and Zhifeng Ren, as well as BC students and collaborators from Solasta Inc., of Newton, Mass., and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Institute of Microengineering in Switzerland.

The research was funded in part by a Technology Incubator grant from the Department of Energy.

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Solar PV market to increase five fold

The market for solar photovoltaics (PV) is expected to increase dramatically



This is according to a recent study by accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), which suggested that feed-in tariffs from the government are behind the predicted growth. The analysis found that the use of solar PV could grow five-fold over the course of the year.

Gus Schellekens, sustainability and climate change director at PwC, commented: "The focus on PV is timely with recently published roadmap documents outlining the future global potential for PV technologies. "While its use in the UK is small today, PV has a promising future if supported by strong government policy that sustains early deployments and supports the technology's transition to cost competitiveness." The technology uses cells to capture and convert sunlight into electricity.


However, contrary to earlier solar systems, the PV cells can be of particular use in the UK because they will even work on a cloudy day.

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Apple's patent reveals a solar-powered iPhone

Eco Factor: Apple patents iPhone powered by invisible solar cells. Apart from some electricity companies, solar energy seems to be on the minds of gadget manufacturers as well.

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Green rule draws flak

Ontarioa s feed-in-tariff program offers a guaranteed long-term pricing structure for producers building wind farms, solar power and renewable biogas Jameson Berkow, Financial Post As investment in Ontarioa s alternative-energy sector continues apace, legal experts are warning the provincial government may be violating international trade ...

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National Semiconductor unveils its Solar Magic

National Semiconductor has become the latest IT firm to try and break into the burgeoning renewable energy market, unveiling a chipset specifically designed for installation within solarpanels.

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Semiconductor manufacturing technique holds promise for solar energy

Thanks to a new semiconductor manufacturing method pioneered at the University of Illinois, the future of solar energy just got brighter.

Although silicon is the industry standard semiconductor in most electronic devices, including the photovoltaic cells that solar panels use to convert sunlight into energy, it is hardly the most efficient material available. For example, the semiconductor gallium arsenide and related compound semiconductors offer nearly twice the efficiency as silicon in solar devices, yet they are rarely used in utility-scale applications because of their high manufacturing cost.

U. of I. professors John Rogers and Xiuling Li explored lower-cost ways to manufacture thin films of gallium arsenide that also allowed versatility in the types of devices they could be incorporated into. "If you can reduce substantially the cost of gallium arsenide and other compound semiconductors, then you could expand their range of applications," said Rogers, the Lee J. Flory Founder Chair in Engineering Innovation, and a professor of materials science and engineering and of chemistry.

Typically, gallium arsenide is deposited in a single thin layer on a small wafer. Either the desired device is made directly on the wafer, or the semiconductor-coated wafer is cut up into chips of the desired size. The Illinois group decided to deposit multiple layers of the material on a single wafer, creating a layered, "pancake" stack of gallium arsenide thin films.

"If you grow 10 layers in one growth, you only have to load the wafer one time," said Li, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. "If you do this in 10 growths, loading and unloading with temperature ramp-up and ramp-down take a lot of time. If you consider what is required for each growth -- the machine, the preparation, the time, the people -- the overhead saving our approach offers is a significant cost reduction."

Next the researchers individually peel off the layers and transfer them. To accomplish this, the stacks alternate layers of aluminum arsenide with the gallium arsenide. Bathing the stacks in a solution of acid and an oxidizing agent dissolves the layers of aluminum arsenide, freeing the individual thin sheets of gallium arsenide. A soft stamp-like device picks up the layers, one at a time from the top down, for transfer to another substrate -- glass, plastic or silicon, depending on the application. Then the wafer can be reused for another growth.
"By doing this we can generate much more material more rapidly and more cost effectively," Rogers said. "We're creating bulk quantities of material, as opposed to just the thin single-layer manner in which it is typically grown."

Freeing the material from the wafer also opens the possibility of flexible, thin-film electronics made with gallium arsenide or other high-speed semiconductors. "To make devices that can conform but still retain high performance, that's significant," Li said.

In a paper to be published online May 20 in the journal Nature, the group describes its methods and demonstrates three types of devices using gallium arsenide chips manufactured in multilayer stacks: light sensors, high-speed transistors and solar cells. The authors also provide a detailed cost comparison.
Another advantage of the multilayer technique is the release from area constraints, especially important for solar cells. As the layers are removed from the stack, they can be laid out side-by-side on another substrate to produce a much larger surface area, whereas the typical single-layer process limits area to the size of the wafer.

"For photovoltaics, you want large area coverage to catch as much sunlight as possible. In an extreme case we might grow enough layers to have 10 times the area of the conventional route," Rogers said.
"You really multiply the area coverage, and by a similar multiplier you reduce the cost, while at the same time eliminating the consumption of the wafer," he said.

Among the paper's co-authors are two scientists from Semprius Inc., a North Carolina-based startup company that is beginning to use this technique to manufacture solar cells. A shift from silicon-based panels to more efficient gallium arsenide models could make solar power a more cost-effective form of alternative energy.

Next, the group plans to explore more potential device applications and other semiconductor materials that could adapt to multilayer growth.

The Department of Energy and National Science Foundation-funded team also includes U. of I. postdoctoral researchers Jongseung Yoon, Sungjin Jo and Inhwa Jung; students Ik Su Chun and Hoon-Sik Kin; and electrical and computer engineering professor James Coleman, along with Ungyu Paik, of Hanyang University in Seoul, and Semprius scientists Matthew Meitl and Etienne Menard.

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London borough launches environmental competition

Businesses in the London borough of Camden have been invited to take part in an environmental competition.
Organised by the borough's council, the 2010 Environmental Excellence in Camden Organisations awards, are designed to encourage companies to increase their environmental awareness.
The winners will be those firms which lead the way towards achieving the council's "vision for a low carbon, low waste borough of opportunity".

Businesses can apply until June 18th 2010 and winners will be announced on July 1st. Prizes up for grabs include a "delicious hamper of organic and fair-trade food" or a "scrumptious meal at Camden eco-restaurant Konstam"

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Energy efficiency to be tested in Coronation Street-style home

The university will be home to the world’s first Energy House – a traditional pre-1920s-style terraced house, similar to those seenon ITV soap opera Coronation Street, built in a sealed-off chamber and subjected to a wide range of advanced energy experiments.

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