Recent innovations in the field

Solar power has come a long way in the last half century.  When the first solar cell was developed in 1954 by Bell Laboratories (presently known as AT&T and Labs), scientists anticipated that eventually the sun would provide for the world’s energy needs.  Today, new solar power innovations are making this a reality.

Formed by MIT engineers, Covalent Solar is revolutionizing the solar panel industry.  Unlike conventional concentrators, their dye-based solar concentrator does not require any tracking or cooling systems so overall costs are greatly minimized.  This is how it works: a special mixture of dyes is coated on large glass panel; sunlight is absorbed and transported within the glass to the solar cells at the edge.  Because there is very little energy loss with the dye, power obtained from the solar cells increases 10-fold.  And, when added onto existing panels, efficiency increases by 50%.  Production is expected in the next three years.  So, keep your eyes out. 

Voted one of the 50 inventions by Time Magazine, NanoSolar’s flexible thin-film solar panels are manufactured at a fraction of the cost of conventional panels.  Unlike most silicon panels, which need to be baked in bulk, their panels are being printed in mass, just like newspapers.  The process is simple: roll and print.  The results are solar cells produced 100 times faster and 100 times thinner, reaching efficiency of about 14%. 

Traditionally, solar concentrators are large pieces of metal or mirrors that focus the sun’s rays directly onto solar cells by following the sun’s movement throughout the day.  These systems are generally expensive to install and maintain.  However, Cool Earth Solar has created a much simpler alternative: balloon.  By coating half of the balloon with plastic film (the same film used to bag potato chips) and leaving the other half transparent, the balloon acts like a concave mirror, focusing sunlight directly onto the solar cell.  The result is a very cheap solar concentrator that generates up to 400 times the electricity of a solar cell without a concentrator.

Plants have inspired a new generation of solar cells.  By mimicking plants’ ability to convert sunlight into energy, researchers have developed a new hybrid photovoltaic device that delivers unprecedented amounts of energy.  Each nanoscale component of the device has a specific function the same way each molecule does in photosynthesis.  Although still in the early stages of development, researchers at the University of Southampton are confident in its possibilities.

I think its shameful that solar technology has not advanced dramatically over the last 100 years. When photovoltaics were first proposed as an alternative energy source, oil giants Shell and British Petroleum jumped in and dominated the industry. They have not done anything to improve the technology or the efficiency of the product. General Electric has continued to buy up any innovative technology and make sure that it never meets the light of day. Our governments have conspired with them to make absolutely certain that solar never becomes successful. Think of all the taxes on your electric bill. Think of all the profitable oil wars that must be protected. I propose a photovoltaic revolution where we circumvent the government rules, certification and rebate systems. I like the covalent option. It seems to be flexible, able to be used for both new and existing solar installations.

I also like the NanoSolar; its seeming lack of flexibility (new installations only) is offset by the reduced cost. While at first glance the solar balloons seem like a good idea, upon further reflection (pun intended), do we really want our skies chock full of these balloons (are we swapping “real” polllution for “aesthetic” or “visuual” pollution?

Privacy and Social Networking

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace are starting to play a significant role in modern day society.  From a psychological perspective, we can feel as though we are connected to both friends and random people while being completely alone.  I was diagnosed with anxiety and some part of me blames technology for acting as a shield I could use to ignore much of society.  Once I got to college and started going to large gatherings at night I found myself checking my phone nonstop in large crowds because in large crowds I would feel most alone.  While this disconnect may lead to a more impersonal society it also serves as a temporary outlet to our daily struggle.  Everytime I checked my phone even if I did not receive calls or texts I would feel more connected to my family and friends at home or in other places of the world.  This sense of connection is comforting and as mentioned before can act as a temporary outlet.  However, overusing facebook and cell-phones can lead to a disconnect with making “real” social interactions.  I think playing xbox 360 live has also added to my anxiety.  Once signed in on Xbox Live I am able to talk to thousands of people for free.  Honestly without even being ashamed to say, I can say I have developed and cemented some friendships in highschool over Xbox Live simply because I was bored at home willing to conversate and have a good time with complete strangers.  My use of xbox in high school may have affected my participation in after school sports and activities that could have taught me valuable social skills.

What really scares me is how corporations and bureaucracies are using social media and technology. In class we talked about how the U.S. government sends millions and millions of dollars to gaming manufacturers of first person shooter games and how the U.S. Army is using these games to recruit.  I personally find this very disturbing because I do not think actual military violence and violent first person shooter games should be linked together in any way.  If the U.S. government is sending money to violent first person shooter games our society will only keep continuing to become more violent and gun crimes will increase. 

What really annoys me however is when my family members talk and criticize what I put on my facebook.  In my opinion facebook and other social network sites should be more private.  In my highschool we had to be careful not to swear or put any pictures with alcohol or drugs online because we went to a catholic school who’s dean had a facebook.  While I do spend a lot of time on facebook I do think that these sites can be extremely beneficial to the spread of information.  The uprising in Egypt serves as a prime example to just how powerful these social networking sites may become.  I just hope that major corporations and the government do not abuse social sites as a means of accessing the public personal information.  This fear may already be a concern that society faces as more and more corporations are looking at sites like facebook and categorizing people according to the pictures and videos they choose to express themselves with.  I think I may actually create a fake boring facebook before applying to many important jobs because I’m afraid my current facebook may lean to the radical “partier” side of things.  Hopefully my career will not involve using the program second life and sitting in virtual meetings but it very well could happen.

Media Diet

Media Diet

Monday

8:00 – 9:00 AM: Listened to music

10:00-11:30 AM: watched a movie in class

12:00 -12:05 AM: logged onto internet

3:00-4:30 PM: used my coputer to work on an imovie were making in class

6:00-7:00 PM: watched the television

9:00- 11:00 PM: listened to music

Tuesday

8:00 – 8:30 AM: watched the news

1:00 – 2:00 PM: listened to music

4:00 – 5:00 PM: watched television

6:00 – 6:15 PM: played with the ipad

8:00 – 10:00 PM: listened to music

Wednesday

8:45 – 9:00 AM: played videogames

9:55 – 11:00 AM: used internet to gather info for paper

2:00- 2:30 PM:  watched a movie in class

3:00 – 3:30 PM: talked to sister on phone

4:30- 6:00 PM: watched television

10:00-10:30 PM: watched television

Thursday

7:30 – 9:00 AM: downloaded and listened to music

9:30 – 10:30 AM:  watched videos online

11:45- 12:30 PM: talked on my cell phone

3:00- 4:30 PM: talked with friends online

4:30 – 6:00 PM: used computer to write paper

10:00- 10:30 PM: watched television

Friday

8:00 – 9:00 AM: worked in library on the computers

9:00- 10:00 AM: watch movie in class

9:30- 10:00 AM: talked on phone with friends

11:00 – 12:00 AM: read a book

3:00-4:00 PM: watched television

4:30 – 6:00 PM: talked with friends online

8:00- 10:00 Pm: listened to music

Saturday

9:00 – 10:30 AM: listened to music

10:00- 11:00 AM: played videogames

11:00- 12:00 AM: listened to music

3:00- 3:30 PM: went online

4:00- 4:20 PM: watched television

4:30- 5:00 PM: called my family

8:00- 10:00 PM: listened to music

Sunday

10:00- 11:00 AM: listened to music

12:00 -2:00 PM: online talking with friends

3:00 – 4:30 PM: in the library reading

4:00- 6:30 PM: at home working on papers

8:00- 9:30 PM: listened to music

When I glance over my media diet I can’t help but feel sort of ashamed.  I never really thought of myself as someone attached to the media.  It makes me feel like a cyborg, not only living, but actually attached to the virtual world.  I defiantly think if you took facebook and my cell phone away from me I would feel an unfamiliar sense of not being what I can fully be.  Perhaps, I have been raised to be a consumer and at this point in my life I need some basic technology to fully compute and operate as a growing man in society.  I feel as though my dependence on forms of media is not something that has come out of the blue.  In my point of view, as the world continues to technologically advance the general public will be more easily and readily available to mass amounts of information be it through the internet or other forms of media. The uprising in Egypt is again a prime example of this because it evokes the power of instant communication and the instant spread of information.  I think as technology continues to advance, future generations will become both increasingly dependent on technology and increasingly impatient when it comes to technology.  I think many people my age are just like me and are very attached to the internet and other forms of technology. The internet is sort of a global extension of human consciousness. It’s become a place where we look for things.  It’s probably as big of a deal as the creation of cities.  I would like to view the world with a new perspective and lower my intake of media.  However, I feel as though this task is very hard to do because I like technology a lot and often use it as a comfort zone.  Sometimes when I get really bad anxiety I play with my phone because I just don’t want to deal with the outside world.  I feel as though most people who are more affluent than others are more connected with technology simply because often technology is expensive.  Here in the Silicon Valley, I feel as though it has become a culture to foster innovation in technology.  Most people that are on the cutting edge of this innovation are more likely to have a strong dependence on technology.  Looking over the specific forms of media I consumed over the past five days I can’t help but noticed I spend a lot of time listening to music.  Perhaps I might want to pursue a career or develop my hobby farther because I spend so much time and energy just listening to it. 

About Solar Power

Solar power cells convert sunlight into electricity, using the energy of speeding photons to create an electrical current within a solar panel.  Photons are created in the center of the sun by the fusion of atoms. It takes a photon about a million years to work its way to the surface of the sun, but once free it is hurled through space so fast that it reaches earth in just eight minutes - after traveling 93 million miles. This tremendous energy from the sun is abundant, and has been powering the earth for billions of years - feeding plants, redistributing and refreshing water supplies and ultimately creating other forms of energy (such as fossil fuels) that largely power our civilization today.  Over the past several decades, scientists have been learning to harness this ancient energy source with more efficiency to do the work of non-renewable fuels - without pollution, noise or radiation, and not subject to economic whims that drive costs higher each year.

An interesting side note: Photons are also called quanta. They are literally "packets" of sunlight". Albert Einstein got his Nobel Prize for his study of quantum mechanics.

Solar power panels are made from specially treated semiconductor materials, composed mostly of silicon atoms. The panels - also called photovoltaic modules - are constructed with two sheets of silicon manufactured to take advantage of the photons bombarding the earth. One sheet, called the N-layer, is constructed of silicon atoms that have "extra" electrons wandering freely within the layer. The other sheet, called the P-layer, has "missing" electrons, or "holes" that attract free electrons. The two layers are separated by an electrical field, created by the interaction of atoms from both sides. When a photon of sunlight strikes an atom in either layer, it knocks loose an electron. In the P-layer, these free electrons easily cross through the electrical field and into the N-layer. But this movement of electrons is one-way; N-layer electrons aren't able to cross the electrical field into the P-layer. As a result, an excess of free electrons build up in the N-layer. A metal wire attached to the N-layer gives the excess electrons somewhere to go. This circuit ultimately leads back to the P-layer, depositing free electrons where they can begin the process again. Before returning to the P-layer, the electrons are used to power electrical appliances in homes, offices, schools and factories. The movement of electrons with energy is called an electric current. As long as the sun is shining, the electrical current in a solar-electric system continues.

The type of current produced by a solar panel is called direct current (DC). Before it can be used to power a home or office, it is converted to alternating current (AC) by an electronic inverter. The inverter is used to change DC power to utility grade AC power. The quality of the power from a sine wave inverter can exceed the quality of power coming from the utility. Our inverters are generally supplied with an additional circuit, called "maximum power point tracking," or MPPT for short. This optimizes the way that the inverter processes the energy form the PV panels so that your system can give you power even on cloudy days.  Energy demand is called a load. In a standalone photovoltaic system, electricity in excess of the load can be stored in batteries for later use. A grid-tied solar power system, on the other hand, runs in tandem with power from the utility company. The excess solar power from a grid-tie system is fed into utility lines, appearing as a credit on your electric bill. A shortfall in solar power is made up with utility-company power. You get billed for only the difference between what you use from the power company and what solar energy you generate. This is called "net metering." When you select net metering billing for a year's period of time, your power company will credit your bill for all the excess power you are able to generate in the summer so that you can use up that credit in the winter months.

3 Technology and Social Interaction

Text Messages.

I have begun to question the impact of cell phones and more specifically text messaging for many reasons.  Some people fear that we will all become a society of people who spend all day looking at a screen instead of speaking to each other.  I think this may be a real concern because it may be making our society even lazier than it already is.  Unfortunately, most text messages limit you to 160 characters per message, and if you want to get the most detail out in the least amount of words you shorten some of the words.  However, over the past couple of years these short cuts have gone a little too far.  I personally believe that people who cannot afford to send several text messages use more shortcuts and in some cases this leads to an increase in spelling mistakes.  I feel as though these abbreviations may save time and money however they also bring about some negative effect such communication has on real conversations and developing the bonds that come with it. I believe tone and facial expressions are also a necessary way of communicating and that sometimes and an element of honesty is lost when one can merely send a text message. However, in an age where communication is virtually instant no wonder text messaging is so popular.  While convenience stands out as a key factor for sending text messages it is important to realize if people have the time to balance their needs they will be able to participate in some other form of communication.  

Now even older less technologically friendly generations are willing to learn how to use text messages. In my own family, I couldn’t help but feel like my parents felt some sort of disconnect because of their lack of knowledge on how to text.  I noticed my parents were jealous of the conversations I had with my sister and realized I was in a sense causing conflict in our family.  However upon this realization I taught my parents how to text message and now when I do not have time to call my parents I am able to communicate via text message. 

As a sociology major I have recently learned that people experience social change when they can meet at a defined “space” and have meaningful conversations about their everyday struggles.  From a sociological perspective, society needs a “space” for which every member can interact and discuss meaningful political and social issues.   I have learned through several Sociology classes that social change occurs when people can perceive their private problems as public issues (sociological imagination).  For example, I have learned that poor women factory workers who work in the maquiladoras were finally able to unionize once they were able to talk about their problems in church on Sundays.  In this example, the “space” I am talking about is the church that acts as a meeting place for people to come together and talk about their problems.  As more and more people are choose to text each other instead of taking the time to meet, I am becoming more and more concerned that these “spaces” are becoming less and less prevalent in society.