This is kinda of a big big story. Nantech God Richard Smalley has been writing about how we should invest in alt fuels, in particular nan based solar cells. That's always been the crushing point about solar. It's not that we can't use it, it's that we can't use it so inexpensively that it can compete with oil or gas. There's a vast difference between recognizing this and adopting the unreal Den Bestian argument that this can never be done.
Read the whole thing as they say. I'm debating whether I should debunk this latest Den Beste missive.
Today using lead-acid storage batteries, such a unit for a house to store 100-kilowatt hours of electrical energy would take up a small room and cost more than $10,000.
Through advances in nanotechnology, it may be possible to shrink an equivalent unit to the size of a washer and drop the cost to $1,000. Among the approaches being developed today are nanotubes, nanowires and nanocomposites for batteries.
On another front, nanostructured membranes, nanohorn electrodes and nanocatalysts are helping to make fuel cells smaller, lighter and more affordable.
With research and entrepreneurial efforts, many schemes are likely to emerge to supply this local energy storage market that may expand to several billion units worldwide
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