Solar Breakthrough
From 21st Century Organic Polymers
'Solar Panels Too Pricey? Try Printing Them Out'
www.nlpwessex.org/docs/solarbreakthrough.htm
Future Of The Genuinely Sustainable Electric Car Moves Big Step Closer

But Only If 'Big Oil', 'Detroit', And Biofuel Vested Interests
Will Allow The Death Of The 19th Century Born Internal Combustion Engine
In Their Hands Lies Much Of The Future Of World Peace

July 2007

"Imagine some day driving in your hybrid car with a solar panel painted on the roof, which is producing electricity to drive the engine. The opportunities are endless."
Lead researcher Somenath Mitra, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Solar panels too pricey? Try printing them out
MSNBC, 23 July 2007

2007 SOLAR TECHNOLOGY BREAKTHROUGH AT NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY A plastic sheet (above) is coated with polymers that catch the sun's rays and convert them into electricity Other researchers are making equally impressive breakthroughs. As advances in battery solutions also come over the horizon it is now possible to envisage a solar-based global transport system emerging, enabling the world to by-pass the immense environmental and military conflict challenges posed by the continued use of fossil-fuels and biofuels. But will existing oil, car manufacturing, and biofuel vested interests allow it to happen? Will they participate in this potential life-giving global revolution or will they do their best to make sure it doesn't happen, and that death and destruction persist and spread across the earth? Crucial to a positive outcome in this process is a phase transition in individual and global collective thinking.

"U.S. scientists have developed a technology to produce inexpensive solar cells that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets. New Jersey Institute of Technology Professor Somenath Mitra said the process is so simple, even homeowners will someday be able to print sheets of the solar cells with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers and then attach the product to a wall or roof to create their own power stations. Purified silicon, also used for making computer chips, is a core material for fabricating conventional solar cells, Mitra said. However, the processing of a material such as purified silicon is beyond the reach of most consumers. 'Developing organic solar cells from polymers, however, is a cheap and potentially simpler alternative,' he said. 'We foresee a great deal of interest in our work because solar cells can be inexpensively printed or simply painted on exterior building walls and-or roof tops. Imagine some day driving in your hybrid car with a solar panel painted on the roof, which is producing electricity to drive the engine. The opportunities are endless.' Mitra and his team reported the research in the June 21 issue of the Journal of Materials Chemistry."
Inexpensive solar cell technology created
United Press International, 19 July 2007

'Solar Panels Too Pricey? Try Printing Them Out'

It's Time To Boost The Prospects For World Peace
By Abandoning The Internal Combustion Engine
This Archaic Piece Of 19th Century Technology Is The Biggest Waster Of Energy
And Provoker Of Resource Wars Ever Devised By Man

".... energy efficiency is so important. More than half the energy we generate every day is wasted. In an average car, about 20 per cent of every unit of petrol goes into moving a car forward, the rest is lost as heat."
Jeroen van der Veer, Chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell
High hopes and hard truths dictate future
London Times, 25 June 2007

Based On The Superior Efficiency Of Electric Motors Below Are Some Of The Benefits Of Moving Away From The Internal Combustion Engine
Even When The Electricity Used Still Comes From Oil Burned At Power Stations As Part Of An Intermediate Stage In The Transition To Non-Fossil Fuel Energy Sources

So Just Imagine What The Additional Benefits Will Be Later On
When Solar Power Replaces Oil And Other Fossil Fuels As The Original Source Of Energy

"R. James Woolsey, CIA Director during the 90’s, wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal last December talking about the national security advantages of ending the US dependence on imported oil. He described the dramatic reduction of oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions that will happen if transit combustion is moved from the street to power plants. A week later, GM rolled out the Volt concept car at the Detroit Auto Show. It will be powered by the plug-in hybrid electric drive train that Mr. Woolsey was advocating. Since electricity costs one third of what we currently spend on gasoline to power cars and recharging would be done overnight, it was apparent to Mr. Woolsey that widespread adoption of plug-in electric drive technology would be practical, particularly since 84% of the 220 million cars on the road in the US can be replaced by plug-in electric cars, having equivalent performance and amenities to the fuel powered cars we drive now, without having to build additional generation and transmission infrastructure. The only remaining bar to implementation was the need for safe and affordable high power batteries with a vehicle lifetime service rating that weren’t available at that time....there have also been technology advances this spring that indicate that there’s reason for optimism. New materials innovations that are now out of the laboratory and going into production that, when widely adopted in the US, can cap greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. High power, long life batteries that recharge in 10 minutes are now being manufactured in the US that can power both fully electric plug-in vehicles and plug-in hybrids.... It used to be that battery electric propulsion was only good for golf carts, fork lifts, and neighborhood cars that went 30mph. But seemingly out of the blue a private Canadian company doing business in Ontario, CA is producing a no compromise, all electric, five passenger sport utility truck (SUT) with a 130 mile range that cruises at highway speeds with the air conditioner running. They’re being marketed to fleet operators to whom they makes great good sense. Using a high power charger, the batteries 'fill up' in ten minutes (or over night from a 220 V outlet using the onboard charger). Phoenix Motorcars will introduce an extended range SUV later this year to accommodate families.... The Phoenix SUV has performance that’s comparable to a Ford Escape Hybrid (0-60 in less than 10 seconds vs. the Ford at 10.3 seconds). If electricity costs ten cents per kWh, charging the Phoenix will cost $7.00 to go 260 miles. Even getting 34mpg which is great for an SUV, with gas at three dollars per gallon it costs $23.00 to travel that distance in the Ford – over 3 times more. And that’s only half of the savings story - the maintenance profile of battery electric vehicles is 25% of the most durable internal combustion configurations. How can that be? Well, for openers, the motor has only one moving part.
And then there’s no:

- Transmission to flush or fluid to change
- Cooling system to flush or fluid to change
- Lubrication system or oil & filter to change
- Ignition system to tune or air filter and spark plugs to change
- Exhaust system to rust out or EGR components to maintain
- Fan or fan belts or timing belts to replace
- Front break wear (regenerative breaking instead)
- Lead acid battery to replace (Phoenix batteries last 250,000 miles)

If you’re a fleet operator, the reduced maintenance translates into increased availability that means you need fewer electric vehicles to keep the required number in service – for some fleets that means close to half as many. A 260 mile per day range will get most people where they’re going so much of the time and saves them so much money that renting the right vehicle for extended trips is perfect. But plug-in hybrid cars being planned by GM and Toyota will be able to go 650 miles with the combination of a less costly battery and a gas tank."
Unrealized benefits of transport electrification are within reach
Energy Bulletin, 1 July 2007

Imagine Reducing Global Demand For Oil By Half Through This Kind Of Efficiency

"Even though the battery problems appear to have been solved, widespread adoption of plug-in transit is not assured while it threatens oil company profits. Compared to a Prius (45mpg), an electric power plant burns one half of the oil and emits one third of the carbon dioxide (well to wheel) per mile to power a Phoenix SUV. (11) Plug-in hybrid and battery electric sedans comparable to the Prius will be even more efficient and that means if they become popular we will use a lot less oil. It’s within our technical and manufacturing ability to convert enough of the cars in the US to plug-in electric transport to cut oil utilization by half or more in the next decade – about the amount we now import. This is coming just in time; some estimates show world oil production peaking in 10 years. Aside from doubling the time it will take to deplete oil supplies, the impact on international politics and economics would be something to see."
Unrealized benefits of transport electrification are within reach
Energy Bulletin, 1 July 2007

And Then Gradually Replacing The Remaining Oil Input With This

"Scientists have invented a plastic solar cell that can turn the sun's power into electrical energy, even on a cloudy day. The plastic material uses nanotechnology and contains the first solar cells able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays. The breakthrough has led theorists to predict that plastic solar cells could one day become five times more efficient than current solar cell technology. Like paint, the composite can be sprayed onto other materials and used as portable electricity. A sweater coated in the material could power a cell phone or other wireless devices. A hydrogen-powered car painted with the film could potentially convert enough energy into electricity to continually recharge the car's battery. The researchers envision that one day 'solar farms' consisting of the plastic material could be rolled across deserts to generate enough clean energy to supply the entire planet's power needs. 'The sun that reaches the Earth's surface delivers 10,000 times more energy than we consume,' said Ted Sargent, an electrical and computer engineering professor at the University of Toronto. Sargent is one of the inventors of the new plastic material. 'If we could cover 0.1 percent of the Earth's surface with [very efficient] large-area solar cells,' he said,'we could in principle replace all of our energy habits with a source of power which is clean and renewable.'... Other possibilities include energy-saving plastic sheeting that could be unfurled onto a rooftop to supply heating needs, or solar cell window coating that could let in enough infrared light to power home appliances....Ultimately, a large amount of the sun's energy could be harnessed through 'solar farms' and used to power all our energy needs, the researchers predict. 'This could potentially displace other sources of electrical production that produce greenhouse gases, such as coal,' Sargent said.... The biggest hurdle facing solar power is cost-effectiveness. At a current cost of 25 to 50 cents per kilowatt-hour, solar power is significantly more expensive than conventional electrical power for residences. Average U.S. residential power prices are less than ten cents per kilowatt-hour, according to experts. But that could change with the new material. 'Flexible, roller-processed solar cells have the potential to turn the sun's power into a clean, green, convenient source of energy,' said John Wolfe, a nanotechnology venture capital investor at Lux Capital in New York City. "
Spray-On Solar-Power Cells Are True Breakthrough
National Geographic, 14 January 2005

So It's Time To Challenge The Vested Interests And Put Billions Of Dollars Into Solar Energy And Electric Vehicles
Instead Of Futilely Wasting Billions Of Taxpayers Money In Iraq And Other Energy Resource Conflict Zones Just To Keep The Internal Combustion Engine Going
After All - The Oil Run Internal Combustion Engine Is Just So 19th Century!

Because If We Don't The Alternative Is This

"Oil ruled the 20th century; the shortage of oil will rule the 21st.... Last Tuesday the lead story in The Financial Times was the latest report from the International Energy Agency. The FT quoted the IEA as saying: 'Oil looks extremely tight in five years’ time,' and that there are 'prospects of even tighter natural gas markets at the turn of the decade'. For an international agency, that is inflammatory language....  27 of the 51 oil-producing nations listed in BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy reported output declines in 2006. One projection of world crude oil production actually forecasts a 10 per cent reduction in total world output between 2005 and 2015. That would be a revolution..... Some analysts think that the peak oil moment has already been reached; some still think that it will not come until 2020 – which is itself only 12 years away. Market trends and the statistics both support the IEA’s view that consumption is accelerating and supplies falling faster than expected. Of course, if the 'crunch' point is only five years’ away for oil, and closer for natural gas, it has, for practical purposes, already arrived....The shortage of oil and natural gas, relative to demand, had already changed the balance of world power. Historians may well conclude that the US decision to invade Iraq was primarily motivated by the desire to gain physical control of Iraq’s oil and to provide defence support to other Middle Eastern oil powers. Political motivations are always mixed, but oil is an essential national interest of the United States. If the US is now deciding to withdraw from Iraq, the price will have to be paid in terms of loss of access to oil.... The world is coming to the end of the age of oil, which produced its own technology, its balance of power, its own economy, its pattern of society. It does not greatly matter whether the oil supply has peaked already or is going to peak in five or 12 years’ time. There is a huge adjustment to be made. There will be some benefits, including higher efficiencies and perhaps a better approach to global warming. But nothing will take us back towards the innocent expectation of indefinite expansion of the first months of the new millennium."
Lord William Rees-Mogg
Are these the last days of the Oil Age?
London Times, 16 July 2007

".... the implications of China's exploding thirst for crude oil are epic in scope... Based on our analysis of the intense economic, crude oil, and military confrontations developing among the China Rim region’s largest economies, we believe that the most aggressive crude oil price targets calling for $100 per barrel within the next three years will prove to be conservative.... it is our opinion that the 'likely direction of surprise' in crude oil prices will continue to be to the upside.... There is not just one new economic behmoth emerging in the China Rim region, there are two... The simultaneous economic rise of China and India will have a huge impact on worldwide crude oil markets.... The rapid and simultaneous rise of at least two behmoth economies, China and India, comes at time when the world's oil production appears poised to peak. A sustained upward move in crude oil prices is likely to create drilling economics that will favor the exploitation of reserves that were previously uneconomical to tap. However, the marginal increase in reserves that might result is unlikely, in our view, to substantially offset the crude oil impact of an eventual worldwide 'peak' in crude oil production...While China's economic rise is fostering a worldwide grab for crude oil reserves, it is also creating a 'war chest' with which China is financing the rapid modernization of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The PLA, in turn, is the ultimate guarantor of China's energy security. One of the key purposes of this analysis is to provide our research users with a 'context' or 'unified theory' for interrelating economic, crude oil, and military developments on the China rim.... The Laguna Research Partners Energy Security Index measures total military expenditures per barrel of crude oil consumed. We calculate ESI for nations and regions.... These figures lend credence to our view that the US is currently critical to the energy security of both India and Russia - in defence of sea lanes and oil fields, respectively - vis-a-vis China... Our ...   calculations show that China and the United States make estimated non-core military expenditures of US $47.01 AND US $42.38 per barrel of crude oil imported, respectively...[Japan, South Korea, India and Taiwan] have been beneficiaries of the US energy security umbrella. China's economic, crude oil, and military emergence, though, is prompting all of these leading China Rim crude oil importers to implement increasingly aggressive defence postures... From a short-term standpoint, worldwide crude oil demand is continuing to expand, but the world's crude oil production infrastructure is running at 'near full' capacity. From a long-term perspective, major new China Rim region buyers of crude oil - China and India - are emerging during a period when worldwide crude oil is approaching a peak. Meaningful new crude oil demand from Brazil will likely add to demand-side pressures during this critical 'peak oil' transition..."
Crisis on the China Rim: An Economic, Crude Oil, and Military Analysis
Laguna Research Partners, 14 April 2005
Who Are Laguna Research Partners? - Click Here
Download Full 85 Page Report - Click Here

Meanwhile Here Is The Latest Announcement From The Dolts At
'The Ministry Of Proping Up The 19th Century Oil Fueled Internal Combustion Engine With Your Taxes'
Another £4 Billion Down The Drain!
'A Step Change In More Unintelligent Government'
It's The Oil Stupid!

"Orders for two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers have been confirmed by Defence Secretary Des Browne. He said the £3.8bn contract would lead to the construction of the largest vessels ever sailed by the Royal Navy. The new 65,000-tonne carriers - HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales - will enter service in 2014 and 2016. Mr Browne said the work would support and create 10,000 jobs across the UK, including those at yards on the Clyde, Rosyth, Portsmouth and Barrow. The contract was described as a 'major project' for the shipbuilding industry by Prime Minister Gordon Brown....Making the announcement, Mr Browne said the carriers would 'provide our front-line forces with the modern, world class capabilities they will need over the coming decades.  The carriers represent a step-change in our capabilities, enabling us to deliver increased strategic effect and influence around the world at a time and place of our choosing [i.e. to secure access to oil]..... "
MoD confirms £3.8bn carrier order
BBC Online, 25 July 2007

"The Labour Government began its Strategic Defence Review (SDR) in May 1997. After longer than expected, an SDR White Paper was published on 8 July1998 as Command Paper 3999. ....The challenges to British security are most likely to arise in Europe, in the Mediterranean and in the Middle East and Persian Gulf..... British interests are most likely to be affected by events in the Gulf, threatening oil supplies... The decision to acquire two large carriers has a certain irony, in that it was an earlier Labour government which decided to scrap plans for a new generation of large fixed wing carriers in 1966. The new ships will also be expensive, costing perhaps £2bn not including aircraft, and it remains to be seen whether the MOD will be able to afford them, even if, as with HMS Ocean, commercial rather than military specifications are used. Given that the first is not intended to enter service until 2012, it stands outside the MOD’s current long-term costings. Indeed, a future government could well review this decision on economic grounds. It is also open to question whether Britain should place so many of its financial and weaponry eggs in one carrier basket, which may be vulnerable to attack from mines, missiles and aircraft. Still, the reluctance of all the Gulf States but Kuwait to sanction the use of their airfields for potential air strikes on Iraq earlier this year, severely hampered the organisation of a projected air campaign. In international waters, aircraft carriers offer independence and mobility as command and force platforms.....  the MOD has only decided to plan for two carriers. Although this may be all that Britain can afford..... Within a fixed Naval budget, as with the other services, new capabilities have been bought with cuts elsewhere. ... It remains to be seen whether these changes are entirely consistent with the UK’s ostensible commitments to the defence of its Overseas Territories and its reaffirmed defence interest in the Gulf."
The Strategic Defence Review White Paper
HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY, RESEARCH PAPER 98/91,15 OCTOBER 1998

So Get A Grip - Let's Roll Into The 21st Century Instead Of Baghdad And Tehran!
What Those 10,000 Tax-Burning Aircraft Carrier Fitters Should Be Doing Instead
If There Was Any Semblance Of Coherent Political Leadership Left In The 'Civilised' World

"The head of GM, Rick Wagoner, says there is 'now an irrefutable business case' for producing green cars. Mr Wagoner told the BBC that in future, all cars would have to be flexible enough to run on biofuels, hydrogen derived from electric power, or batteries which plugged into the electricity power grid. He warned that with the growth of demand for cars soaring in developing countries, it would not be long before the world ran out of petrol - at least at a price that car drivers could afford."
GM betting on a greener future
BBC Online, 8 January 2007

Why Prolonging The Moribund Life Of The Internal Combustion Engine Through Biofuels Is A Major Strategic Error
And Why Hollywood Star George Clooney Is Going Down A Different Route
Click Here

The Intelligent Future Is Solar
Natural Law's Greatest Powerhouse For The Earth

"Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on Wednesday urged the world's biggest industrialised nations to set up a 50-billion-dollar (44-billion-euro) fund to support solar power, warning that oil or nuclear energy were not viable energy sources for the future. Gorbachev -- who chairs an environmental thinktank, Green Cross International -- called on leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nations to invest in renewable energy sources, in a statement marking the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.....Rising oil prices and supply concerns, as well as the growing need to combat global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, have raised the profile and economic viability of some renewable energy sources."
Gorbachev urges G8 to back solar power
Agence France Presse, 26 April 2006

"Humanity’s 'primary energy production,' including all fossil fuels, nuclear power, hydroelectric and renewables, is 13 terawatts (equivalent to 13,000 large power plants), less than 1/100 of 1 percent of the 170,000 terawatts continuously delivered to the earth as sunlight. With 600 terawatts of terrestrial potential, solar energy far exceeds all other possible forms of substitution..... A direct path from sunlight to electricity can be 10 times as efficient as photosynthesis. Solar energy can’t be touched or put into a bottle. Solar is radiant energy, not a solid, liquid or gas. Electricity from renewables is ideally suited for urban transportation. It is nonpolluting and well-suited for fixed guide rail and automated routing of traffic, and an electric vehicle is at least twice as efficient as a gasoline vehicle. We are ready for a good reason to get rid of the internal combustion engine in dense urban areas, where it is about as practical as a campfire in the kitchen. Efficiency in the face of oil depletion is that compelling reason. Solar technologies continue to improve, and so do electric vehicles. A battery with three times the energy density of lead-acid and a charging time under two minutes is scheduled for introduction in 2007 or 2008."
Dawn of the Solar Era - A Wake-Up Call
Solar Today, March/April 2006

".... you're not going to be self-sufficient, or even produce half of our energy from biomass in the U.S., if we want to eat.... The difficulty is that plants do not collect very much solar energy. On average, plants collect one-tenth of one percent of the solar energy available. Photovoltaic solar cells collect at least 10 percent, which means 100 times the energy collected by plants. Biofuel Skeptic Extraordinaire.... When these people talk about biofuels providing us with our energy, they need to look at the facts right now. Eighteen percent of all corn is going into ethanol production. We're getting 4.5 million gallons of ethanol. That's 1 percent of U.S. petroleum use. It's 1 percent. If we use 100 percent of U.S. corn, and we won't do that, but if we used 100 percent, what would that do for us? Six percent."
Professor David Pimentel, Cornell University
Biofuel Skeptic Extraordinaire
Grist, 8 December 2006