« Catch Winter's Comet Lulin | Main | Milton Friedman - Greed »
February 7, 2009
Why Sustainable Energy Is Unsustainable
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16550-why-sustainable-power-is-unsustainable.html
"The efficiency of solar cells is measured as a percentage of light energy they convert to electricity. Silicon solar cells finally reached 25% in late December. But multi-junction solar cells can achieve efficiencies greater than 40%.
Although touted as the future of solar power, those and most other multiple-junction cells owe their performance to the rare metal indium, which is far from abundant. There are fewer than 10 indium-containing minerals, and none present in significant deposits - in total the metal accounts for a paltry 0.25 parts per million of the Earth's crust.
Most of the rare and expensive element is used to manufacture LCD screens, an industry that has driven indium prices to $1000 per kilogram in recent years. Estimates that did not factor in an explosion in indium-containing solar panels reckon we have only a 10 year supply of it left."
Posted by Rob Kiser on February 7, 2009 at 11:54 PM
Comments