 and if that energy comes from fossil fuels the
environmental benefit of hydrogen power is questionable. Using solar energy to
generate the hydrogen would overcome this objection.
more, there are other ways of putting a solar fuel generator to work. "I'd
rather do like the plants do," says Lewis. "Use sunlight to convert
water and carbon dioxide into ethanol or methanol." These liquids are more
compatible with existing fuelling stations than hydrogen. Whatever the product,
Lewis says, "making a multiple-exciton-per-photon solar cell for any
purpose would be a major tour de force".
of Nanosolar Cell: http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2553/25531601.jpg
Letters photon article: http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/nalefd/2006/6/i03/abs/nl052276g.html
Review Letters article: http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=PRLTAO000092000018186601000001&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes
Debate Over Wind Power Creates Environmental Rift
BARRINGER, New York Times, June 6, 2006, http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2006/06/06/us/06wind.html&tntemail1=y
OAKLAND, Md. Dan Boone has no doubt that his crusade
against wind energy is the right way to protect the Allegheny highlands he
loves. Let other environmentalists call him deluded at best, traitorous at
worst. He remains undeterred.
For four years or more, Mr.
Boone has traveled across the mid-Atlantic to make every argument he can muster
against local wind-power projects: they kill birds and bats; they are too
noisy; they are inefficient, making no more than a symbolic contribution to
Wind farms on the empty
prairies of North Dakota? Fine. But not, Mr. Boone insists, in the mountainous
terrain of southwestern Pennsylvania,
Virginia, areas where 15 new projects have been proposed. If all
were built, 750 to 1,000 giant turbines would line the hilltops, most
producing, on average, enough electricity to power 600 homes.
Wind projects are in the
midst of a huge growth spurt in many parts of the country, driven by government
incentives to promote alternatives to fossil fuels. But Mr. Boone, who wields a
botanist's trowel and a debater's knife with equal ease, wants to slow them
down with community activism, regulatory action and legal challenges.
His crusade harks back to
the campaigns against nuclear power plants, toxic-waste dumps and dams on
scenic rivers that were building blocks of the modern environmental movement.
But the times, and the climate, are changing. With fears of global
warming growing more acute, Mr. Boone and many other local activists
are finding themselves increasingly out of step with the priorities of the
National groups like Greenpeace
and the Sierra Club used to uniting against specific projects are now united
for renewable energy in general. And they are particularly high on wind power
with the caveat that a few, but only a few, special places should be
environmental movement knows we have this urgent need for renewable energy to
avert global warming," said John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace
U.S.A. "But we're still dealing with groups that can't get their
heads around global warming yet."
Indeed, the best winds,
especially in the East, tend to blow in places that are also ideal for hiking,
sailing, second homes and spirit-soothing views. These include the Green
Mountains, the Adirondacks, the Chesapeake Bay, Cape Cod and the ridges of northern
Appalachia. Local opposition to unwanted development remains a potent force.
So when it comes to wind,
the environmental movement is riven with dissonance and accusations of elitism.
F. Kennedy Jr.'s very public opposition to the 130-turbine
Cape Wind energy facility proposed off Nantucket Sound has driven a wedge
between activists. Dan Boone's circuit riding against wind projects, while not
attracting the same celebrity notice, has exasperated many Sierra Club
compatriots even more.
Like Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Boone
says the areas he wants to protect are uniquely vulnerable. His family owns
property near the proposed projects, just as Mr. Kennedy's does near the Cap