Honda – Darwin to Adelaide winner
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced its plan to begin mass production in 2007 of an independently developed thin film solar cell composed of non-silicon compound materials, which requires 50% less energy, and thus generate 50% less CO2, during production compared to a conventional solar cell. A mass production plant with annual capacity of 27.5 megawatts will be established at Honda’s Kumamoto factory.
Honda will produce and sell solar panels in a limited area, starting from next autumn, using an assembly line within Honda Engineering Co., Ltd.
By using thin film made from a compound of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS), Honda’s next-generation solar cell achieved a major reduction in energy consumed during the manufacturing process to approximately 50% of that required by conventional crystal silicon solar cells. Honda claims further that this solar cell has achieved the highest level of photoelectric transfer efficiency to date for a thin film solar cell, almost equivalent to the conventional crystal silicon solar cell.
Ain’t nothing wrong with diversifying into future technologies. Frankly, it’s a positive step when a global corporation decides it can profit from green engineering.
I think my next car might be a Honda.
It also shows how wrong your government is to keep insisting in ‘old’ energy sources, instead of investing in renewables…
Mine is a very sunny country (Portugal), I only hope *our* government would also invest in solar energy, instead of just half-supporting headline making wave-technology, as described by one of your previous posts.
In the end I think much of the difference is going to come from people just like you and me and everyone else reading this blog – Joe Public. It’s us who’s going to invest in solar, wind and other renewables, for our homes and possibly our cars. Governments will only then start playing catch up.
The energy expended making silicon wafers is tiny- who cares? The CO2 saved by any kind of sloar panels- huge, we all should care.
Next up – solar trunk and roof body-panels on an all-electric Honda, increasing the car’s range and power to something people can actually drive? Who knows. Sounds cool.
This has great application in housing. If the numbers hold up, that means we could put up a modest panel, say 10 by 15, and realize 20% more energy generation.
Couple this with geothermal heat pumps (a heat pump in the ground instead of in the attic or outside), a house’s outside energy consumption could decreese by 50-75% year round.
I bet GM is hard at work on similer projects….maybe not. However, think of how many solar cells they could put on a big SUV. They would put one cell on and call it a green SUV.
The CO2 savings are a bad idea. There is no CO2 emitted from the use of the solar panels, right? So saving a little during manufacturing is pointless. I say it’s a bad idea if the end result is something that costs more. It would be better to have a high emission process that produces cheaper solar cells that are actually worth using, which would result in overall less CO2 emissions than having expensive cells that people don’t use. Of course it’s possible this process is also the chepaest alternative, but I think they should stop bragging about the emissions part.