New upcoming silver technology/food for thought

Now researchers in Australia say they've found a way to make silicon films, 1 to 2 microns thick, into more efficient energy converters. The trick is to impregnate the silicon film surface with small amounts of silver. Silver is highly efficient at absorbing solar energy. Currently, thin silicon films are less than 10 percent efficient at energy absorption. The islands of silver film are about 10 nanometers thick and can boost efficiency of the film to 13 to 15 percent. The scientists say this could make the silicon film economically competitive.

Lithium-ion is, by far, the most common form of rechargeable battery found in today's mobile devices. However, a shift towards silver zinc may be looming on the horizon thanks to a new product in development by ZPower, Inc. Ross E. Dueber, president and CEO of the company is scheduled to address attendees at the Batteries 2008 conference in Nice, France starting tomorrow, where he will tout the advantages of his silver-zinc technology scheduled to launch in "a major notebook computer in 2009." Whether we will find out the identity of this "major notebook" in the coming days remains to be seen, but the impending release does offer some hope for consumers frustrated by the battery life of their precious portable gadgets.

President Obama today pledged $2.3 billion in tax credits to the clean energy manufacturing sector in the hope of creating 17,000 jobs in 43 states, CNNMoney reports. FULL STORY

 

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Major notebook in 2009?? It's already 2010?

Is he talking about the new Macbooks? That's the only major notebook I can think of and 2009 was when Apple release new Macbook designs...

 

Sorry about that.....the two original paragraphs are from 2007 and 2008, they discuss "new technologies" that will probably involve silver. The Obama CNN thing is from today.

My point is that silver isn't just an inflation hedge, like gold......it is also an investment commodity. It will benefit from both in the next few years.

I haven't heard of any better battery than the silver-zinc....and I haven't heard any better solar panels then the waffer thin ones they produce with silver. So, what do you think these new "green" businesses will be buying with that $23 billion dollars?

 

I'm hoping you're right. Just the amount of silver they need to purchase for R&D should help increase the price of silver.

Although I don't buy into global warming, I'm not against going "green" either. Anything that we can do to use less pollution and use renewable energy is ok in my book....