I knew the first practical photovoltaic cell was created in the 1950’s but did not realize that the photovoltaic principle was discovered in 1839 by French Physicist Henri Becquerel:
In 1839, Henri Becquerel a French scientist, discovered that an electric current could be produced by shining a light onto certain chemical solutions and termed it as photovoltaic effect.
In 1877, the Photovoltaic effect was first observed in a solid material (Selenium- a metal).
This material was used for many years for light meters, which only required very small amounts of power.
It’s funny how Democrats say they want to push ‘new’ technology and make the United States the leader in futuristic ‘Green’ technology.
However, in reality, nearly every ‘green’ technology Democrats are pushing for practically date back to the Victorian era.
Science has been refining photovoltaic cells for over 170 years. And to this day they are still not cost effective in producing large scale electric power.
What makes Obama and company think that there is going to be a miraculous discovery in the next 5 years, that wasn’t discovered in the previous 170 years?
Practical electric cars have been around since 1901, if the technology is so great for passenger cars, why did it go out of favor? Why did the internal combustion engine win out in the marketplace in the early 1900’s?
Another green technology is windmills. They have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years. If they were so great, why didn’t wind power gain acceptance over all that time as a means of electric power generation?
bircham windmill 07
The truth is all three technologies have fundamental flaws that are impractical to overcome.
One technological hurdle windmills, electric vehicles and photovoltaic cells have in common is how to effectively store electricity.
The greens are touting new battery technology to overcome the problem of storing electricity. And yes, they are making incremental gains. The new big push in battery technology has it’s roots in the turn of the century as well, Lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries were first discovered in 1912 and have many drawbacks:
Aging is a concern with most lithium-ion batteries and many manufacturers remain silent about this issue. Some capacity deterioration is noticeable after one year, whether the battery is in use or not. The battery frequently fails after two or three years. It should be noted that other chemistry also have age-related degenerative effects. This is especially true for nickel-metal-hydride if exposed to high ambient temperatures.
Spend oh… $120,000 for a new Tesla roadster for a cool new toy, and drive it only on the weekends just to find out that the battery fails after 2 1/2 years weather you drive the thing or not. Most people become very annoyed when their cell phone battery dies. Imagine how irate you would be if your expensive EV batteries give out after two years.
Or, spend tens of millions of dollars on a solar array and then spend tens of millions more to store the power generated during the day so you can draw power over night. Even the most advanced Sodium-Sulfur (NaS) batteries have only a 15 year life and a fairly steep degradation curve as well. Another way to put it is; as demand for electricity goes up, the NaS battery storage capacity will go down.
lithium mine
One last point about Lithium. The biggest deposits are in Bolivia, South America. So, instead of importing expensive foreign oil, we will be importing expensive, foreign Lithium. And, by the way, lithium mining is not what I would consider a green endeavor.
via Trying To Save The Planet With Turn Of The Century Technology | motorcitytimes.com.
