Earth Equity News

Flexible Nanoantenna Arrays Capture Abundant Solar Energy. Science Daily, August 12, 2008."Researchers have devised an inexpensive way to produce plastic sheets containing billions of nanoantennas that collect heat energy generated by the sun and other sources. The technology, developed at [DOE's] Idaho National Laboratory, is the first step toward a solar energy collector that could be mass-produced on flexible materials. While methods to convert the energy into usable electricity still need to be developed, the sheets could one day be manufactured as lightweight skins' that power everything from hybrid cars to iPods with higher efficiency than traditional solar cells, say the researchers, who report their findings [today] at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2008 2nd International Conference on Energy Sustainability in Jacksonville, Fla. The nanoantennas also have the potential to act as cooling devices that draw waste heat from buildings or electronics without using electricity."