CHICAGO--U.S. researchers have devised a way to make flexible solar cells with silicon wires that use just 1 percent of the material needed to make conventional solar cells.
The eventual hope is to make thin, light solar cells that could be incorporated into clothing, for instance but the immediate benefit is cheaper and easier-to-install solar panels, the researchers said.
The new material, reported on Sunday in Nature Materials, uses conventional silicon configured into micron-sized wires (a micron is one-millionth of a meter) instead of brittle wafers and encases them in a flexible polymer that can be rolled or bent.
"The idea is it would be lower-cost and easier to work with by being more flexible than conventional silicon solar cells," Michael Kelzenberg of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.
Solar cells, which convert solar energy into electricity, are in high demand because of higher oil prices and concerns over climate change.
Many companies, including Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp and Germany's Q-Cells SE, are making thin-film solar cells using organic materials such as polymers, but they typically are less efficient at converting solar energy into electricity than conventional cells using silicon.
The study is among the latest to combine the flexibility of the new organic or carbon-containing films with the high efficiency of silicon, which is heavy and stiff.
Kelzenberg said the material uses about 1/100th as much silicon per cell area as a silicon wafer.
"It is potentially a route to bypass many of the costs associated with producing solar cells," he said.
He said a big problem with working with silicon wafers is they are fragile.
More testing is needed but Kelzenberg said the material would be about 15 percent to 20 percent efficient, about the same level as solar cells used on roofs to heat homes.
A similar effort is under way in the lab of John Rogers, a professor of materials science at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Campaign, who is working on ways to make inorganic materials more flexible.
While many companies are investing in organic solar cells--basically materials like plastic that contain carbon--Rogers said these materials have relatively low performance, less long-term reliability and an unproven cost structure.
"We like the inorganics--trying to adapt them and use them in nonstandard ways," Rogers said in a telephone interview.
Last year, his team reported on a new manufacturing process that creates thin arrays of solar cells that are flexible enough to be rolled around a pencil and transparent enough to be used to tint windows on buildings or cars.
"We can make them stretch like a rubber band or bendable like a sheet of plastic," he said.
He is founder of a start-up semiconductor company called Semprius in Durham, N.C., that last month announced a joint effort with Siemens to develop large systems for utility-scale power generation.
"The same technology they are using to make these rigid utility-scale modules could be used for flexible devices as well," he said.
Rogers said that the company has funding from the U.S. Department of Defense and the CIA.
Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Up close and personal with Amway chairman Steve Van Andel
The Amway Corp chairman talks passionately about the subject closest to his heart – Amway
Alticor Inc chairman Steve Van Andel cuts a tall, commanding but tired figure walking into the room for this interview.
He just got off a flight from the US after which he was whisked off almost immediately to attend a morning-full of celebrations to commemorate the opening of Amway Malaysia’s new RM100mil headquarters.
Alticor is the parent company of the Amway group of companies.
As children, all we had to do to see the business was to go down to the basements – STEVE VAN ANDEL
“I need a Coke, some sugar to get me going,” he says before settling into this conversation with StarBizWeek last month.
Call him a typical American in this regard but it appears he is soon recovered from his fatigue and starts talking passionately on the subject closest to his heart – Amway, the abbreviation for American Way – the direct selling company his father co-founded more than five decades ago.
The lanky, soft-spoken, 54 year-old Steve is the son of the late Jay Van Andel who passed away in 2004, the man who established Amway together with his childhood friend, Rich DeVos.
Van Andel and DeVos senior started their business venture in 1959, selling vitamins and biodegradable soaps to their community in the small western Michigan town of Ada from their home basements.
“As children, all we had to do to see the business was to go down to the basements,” Steve reveals.
Sales were so good that the pair eventually established plants to manufacture their own products.
Over the decades, both men worked hard to build their business – now still headquartered in Michigan – to become one of the most well-known brands in the US.
It wasn’t always a smooth path. And Steve, who joined Amway right after college knows this better than anyone else.
“We’ve had our difficult times but which business doesn’t?” he says.
Steve took over from Jay in 1995 as head of the group after the latter retired.
He now jointly heads the conglomerate together with Doug DeVos who is president of Alticor.
Since taking charge, the second generation bosses, both of whom are the eldest sons of the founders and extremely close pals just like their fathers, have taken the small town entrepreneurial legacy many steps further – expanding globally at a rapid pace and continuously introducing innovative products of a wide variety to the markets.
In 2008, Alticor’s businesses recorded global sales of US$8.2bil, making it the world’s second largest direct selling company after Avon Products, Inc.
Not surprisingly, China is its biggest market right now, owing to the huge population there, unlike in the earlier days when sales were largely domestic, Steve says.
“We are also seeing great growth in Russia and India, I think the fact that we are now so spread out really helps us sustain sales, even in difficult economic times.
“It’s an adventure every time you venture into a new country,” he says.
Amway makes money from selling its products to the growing number of its distributors globally who in turn sell them to customers.
From simple household and health food products, its product categories have grown to include beauty and wellness and skincare products over the years.
Raised in a strict Christian family, Steve is quite obviously the chip of the old block, where his personal character is concerned.
Dad, Jay who died a billionaire once wrote in his autobiography that “the greatest pleasure comes not from the endless acquisition of material things, but from creating wealth and giving it away; the task of every person on earth is to use everything he’s given to the ultimate glory of God.”
Steve likes to believe that he is very much in tune with his dad’s values.
“The idea of providing our distributors an opportunity to make their own money, build their lives and to achieve personal success is what keeps me motivated every single day,” he says.
Some have even become millionaires and I’d like to think that we had a role to play in that.
“It’s really about giving back,” he says.
“To me, our company has grown by leaps and bounds, and really, the most important thing to us right now is that we do our part in helping people change their lives for the better,“ Steve adds.
Amway now has more than 3 million distributors or sales reps around the world, he says and the business continues to grow as “it is an opportunity for individuals from any walk of life, to build the kind of life that they want and dream of.”
Because after all, my dad and Rich started the company with a very basic notion – that everyone, regardless of their monetary position or educational background – could strike it out on their own and be their own boss,” says Steve.
People in developing nations, such as Vietnam, China and India, have slowly been taking to Amway’s direct-sales concept as a way of earning an income and building their wealth, where in previous times, such a thought had never occurred to them, he adds.
Like his father in more ways than one, Steve is also past chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing millions of businesses in the US.
He still sits on the board.
In addition to the chamber board, Steve is also on the board of the Centre for International Private Enterprises, Michigan National Bank Corp, Grand Rapids John Ball Zoo Society and the American Management Association’s Operation Enterprise, amongst others.
Obviously, the business of Amway which is privately held, yes Amway in the US has never gone public – has made Steve a well-off man but not one to forget his roots, he says he continues his father’s community works up till today, dedicating time and effort to the renewal of his hometown, among which the products are the Van Andel Institute, a major health research centre and the Van Andel Museum Centre, both community projects that the people of the town enjoy.
“I’ve travelled the world over,” Steve says at the end of this interview but it is apparent where the heart of this true-boy of West Michigan lies.
“Both our families (Van Andels and DeVos’) are products of Western Michigan and we will never ever forget that,” he says.
Source: By YVONNE TAN
yvonne@thestar.com.my
Alticor Inc chairman Steve Van Andel cuts a tall, commanding but tired figure walking into the room for this interview.
He just got off a flight from the US after which he was whisked off almost immediately to attend a morning-full of celebrations to commemorate the opening of Amway Malaysia’s new RM100mil headquarters.
Alticor is the parent company of the Amway group of companies.
As children, all we had to do to see the business was to go down to the basements – STEVE VAN ANDEL “I need a Coke, some sugar to get me going,” he says before settling into this conversation with StarBizWeek last month.
Call him a typical American in this regard but it appears he is soon recovered from his fatigue and starts talking passionately on the subject closest to his heart – Amway, the abbreviation for American Way – the direct selling company his father co-founded more than five decades ago.
The lanky, soft-spoken, 54 year-old Steve is the son of the late Jay Van Andel who passed away in 2004, the man who established Amway together with his childhood friend, Rich DeVos.
Van Andel and DeVos senior started their business venture in 1959, selling vitamins and biodegradable soaps to their community in the small western Michigan town of Ada from their home basements.
“As children, all we had to do to see the business was to go down to the basements,” Steve reveals.
Sales were so good that the pair eventually established plants to manufacture their own products.
Over the decades, both men worked hard to build their business – now still headquartered in Michigan – to become one of the most well-known brands in the US.
It wasn’t always a smooth path. And Steve, who joined Amway right after college knows this better than anyone else.
“We’ve had our difficult times but which business doesn’t?” he says.
Steve took over from Jay in 1995 as head of the group after the latter retired.
He now jointly heads the conglomerate together with Doug DeVos who is president of Alticor.
Since taking charge, the second generation bosses, both of whom are the eldest sons of the founders and extremely close pals just like their fathers, have taken the small town entrepreneurial legacy many steps further – expanding globally at a rapid pace and continuously introducing innovative products of a wide variety to the markets.
Not surprisingly, China is its biggest market right now, owing to the huge population there, unlike in the earlier days when sales were largely domestic, Steve says.
“We are also seeing great growth in Russia and India, I think the fact that we are now so spread out really helps us sustain sales, even in difficult economic times.
“It’s an adventure every time you venture into a new country,” he says.
Amway makes money from selling its products to the growing number of its distributors globally who in turn sell them to customers.
From simple household and health food products, its product categories have grown to include beauty and wellness and skincare products over the years.
Raised in a strict Christian family, Steve is quite obviously the chip of the old block, where his personal character is concerned.
Dad, Jay who died a billionaire once wrote in his autobiography that “the greatest pleasure comes not from the endless acquisition of material things, but from creating wealth and giving it away; the task of every person on earth is to use everything he’s given to the ultimate glory of God.”
Steve likes to believe that he is very much in tune with his dad’s values.
“The idea of providing our distributors an opportunity to make their own money, build their lives and to achieve personal success is what keeps me motivated every single day,” he says.
Some have even become millionaires and I’d like to think that we had a role to play in that.
“It’s really about giving back,” he says.
“To me, our company has grown by leaps and bounds, and really, the most important thing to us right now is that we do our part in helping people change their lives for the better,“ Steve adds.
Amway now has more than 3 million distributors or sales reps around the world, he says and the business continues to grow as “it is an opportunity for individuals from any walk of life, to build the kind of life that they want and dream of.”
Because after all, my dad and Rich started the company with a very basic notion – that everyone, regardless of their monetary position or educational background – could strike it out on their own and be their own boss,” says Steve.
People in developing nations, such as Vietnam, China and India, have slowly been taking to Amway’s direct-sales concept as a way of earning an income and building their wealth, where in previous times, such a thought had never occurred to them, he adds.
Like his father in more ways than one, Steve is also past chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing millions of businesses in the US.
He still sits on the board.
In addition to the chamber board, Steve is also on the board of the Centre for International Private Enterprises, Michigan National Bank Corp, Grand Rapids John Ball Zoo Society and the American Management Association’s Operation Enterprise, amongst others.
Obviously, the business of Amway which is privately held, yes Amway in the US has never gone public – has made Steve a well-off man but not one to forget his roots, he says he continues his father’s community works up till today, dedicating time and effort to the renewal of his hometown, among which the products are the Van Andel Institute, a major health research centre and the Van Andel Museum Centre, both community projects that the people of the town enjoy.
“I’ve travelled the world over,” Steve says at the end of this interview but it is apparent where the heart of this true-boy of West Michigan lies.
“Both our families (Van Andels and DeVos’) are products of Western Michigan and we will never ever forget that,” he says.
Source: By YVONNE TAN
yvonne@thestar.com.my
Google Buzz Recast as Auto-suggest to Quell Privacy Fears
Google Feb. 13 replaced the auto-follow feature in Google Buzz with auto-suggest to assuage major privacy concerns about the social service. In effect, users will be able to choose whom they follow on Buzz, making the service opt-in.
Launched directly into Gmail Feb. 9, Google Buzz lets Gmail users post status updates, inline videos, photos and other content.
Shortly after launch, it quickly became clear the company didn't consider the ramifications of setting the service up to automatically follow users. Buzz upset users by automatically exposing their Gmail contacts through their Google profiles.
What Google believed would be a fresh breath of expediency turned into a public relations nightmare, with Google backpedaling Feb. 11 by adding a checkbox to warn users that Buzz will show the names of Gmail contacts they are following and people following them on their Google profile.
This didn't do it for most users, some of who called for an opt-in model to let people choose to use Buzz or not. Google Buzz Product Manager Todd Jackson acknowledged this in a contrite blog post Feb. 13:
"On Thursday, after hearing that people thought the checkbox for choosing not to display this information publicly was too hard to find, we made this option more prominent. But that was clearly not enough. So starting this week, instead of an auto-follow model in which Buzz automatically sets you up to follow the people you e-mail and chat with most, we're moving to an auto-suggest model. You won't be set up to follow anyone until you have reviewed the suggestions and clicked "Follow selected people and start using Buzz."
Jackson said that the "tens of millions of you who have already started using Buzz," will be shown this new start-up experience in the next few weeks so that they may review the people they're following.
Those who want to review this list now may go to the Buzz tab, click "Following XX people" and unfollow folks. Users may also opt out of the service from the edit profile page.
Google made two more changes to Buzz.
Buzz will no longer connect users' public Picasa Web Albums and Google Reader shared items. This came after one woman who had been the victim of domestic abuse complained that her abusive ex-husband could see her content through Buzz' connection with Google Reader.
Google also said it added a Buzz tab to Gmail Settings to let users hide Buzz from Gmail or disable it. There will also be a link to these settings from the initial start-up page. This comes after many users complained that they couldn't easily see how to turn off Buzz; previously, users has to turn Buzz off from their Google account page.
With these changes Google made Buzz opt-in and made it much easier for users who complained that Buzz was too noisy or violated their privacy to opt out. Finally, Jackson offered the following apology to irate users:
"We quickly realized that we didn't get everything quite right. We're very sorry for the concern we've caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback. We'll continue to do so."
The question now is whether Google has alienated existing Buzz users enough to make them choose not to follow anyone on Buzz at all, or even to opt out of the service. Gmail has 176 million users and needs every one of them to use Buzz is Google is going to challenge Facebook in the social networking space.
Source: http://newscri.be/link/1018286
Launched directly into Gmail Feb. 9, Google Buzz lets Gmail users post status updates, inline videos, photos and other content.
Shortly after launch, it quickly became clear the company didn't consider the ramifications of setting the service up to automatically follow users. Buzz upset users by automatically exposing their Gmail contacts through their Google profiles.
What Google believed would be a fresh breath of expediency turned into a public relations nightmare, with Google backpedaling Feb. 11 by adding a checkbox to warn users that Buzz will show the names of Gmail contacts they are following and people following them on their Google profile.
This didn't do it for most users, some of who called for an opt-in model to let people choose to use Buzz or not. Google Buzz Product Manager Todd Jackson acknowledged this in a contrite blog post Feb. 13:
"On Thursday, after hearing that people thought the checkbox for choosing not to display this information publicly was too hard to find, we made this option more prominent. But that was clearly not enough. So starting this week, instead of an auto-follow model in which Buzz automatically sets you up to follow the people you e-mail and chat with most, we're moving to an auto-suggest model. You won't be set up to follow anyone until you have reviewed the suggestions and clicked "Follow selected people and start using Buzz."
Jackson said that the "tens of millions of you who have already started using Buzz," will be shown this new start-up experience in the next few weeks so that they may review the people they're following.
Those who want to review this list now may go to the Buzz tab, click "Following XX people" and unfollow folks. Users may also opt out of the service from the edit profile page.
Google made two more changes to Buzz.
Buzz will no longer connect users' public Picasa Web Albums and Google Reader shared items. This came after one woman who had been the victim of domestic abuse complained that her abusive ex-husband could see her content through Buzz' connection with Google Reader.
Google also said it added a Buzz tab to Gmail Settings to let users hide Buzz from Gmail or disable it. There will also be a link to these settings from the initial start-up page. This comes after many users complained that they couldn't easily see how to turn off Buzz; previously, users has to turn Buzz off from their Google account page.
With these changes Google made Buzz opt-in and made it much easier for users who complained that Buzz was too noisy or violated their privacy to opt out. Finally, Jackson offered the following apology to irate users:
"We quickly realized that we didn't get everything quite right. We're very sorry for the concern we've caused and have been working hard ever since to improve things based on your feedback. We'll continue to do so."
The question now is whether Google has alienated existing Buzz users enough to make them choose not to follow anyone on Buzz at all, or even to opt out of the service. Gmail has 176 million users and needs every one of them to use Buzz is Google is going to challenge Facebook in the social networking space.
Source: http://newscri.be/link/1018286
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