Here is a new kind of solar cell, using nano scale antennas, that can convert infra read (heat) radiation into electricity.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200808221

Using an antenna tuned to the resonant frequency of IR light is very efficient, theoretically you should be able to get 90% efficiency or more.  Imagine:

1. Putting IR collectors on the interior walls in your house to collect IR radiation, cool the room and generate electricity at the same time.
2. Rooftop IR collectors to collect heat energy from the air, even at night.
3. Lining the engine compartment of your hybrid car with IR collectors to collect waste heat to charge the batteries while the engine is running and even after you turn the engine off.

The waste energy of most machines (and chemical reactions) always comes out as heat.  If you can convert the heat back into useful energy (electricity) you should be able to achieve near 100% efficiency from any kind of machine. 

In fact, if the working part of the machine is kept in a vacuum bottle, like a thermos, the ONLY way it can radiate energy is as IR radiation.  In this way you could capture 100% of the waste energy from any machine.

For example, there is a new catalyst which can be used to extract hydrogen from ethanol.  Just add the catalyst plus heat.  The waste from the reaction comes out as heat, so if you put the whole reactor inside a vacuum chamber (really just a double walled vessel with a vacuum between the walls), now line the inside of the OUTER wall with the IR collector, and 100% of the waste heat is collected as electricity.

Same thing is true of a hydrogen fuel cell.  Hydrogen fuel cells convert hydrogen plus oxygen to electricity, but there is some waste and the waste comes out again as heat.  Again, put the whole thing in a double walled vessel, with a vacuum between the walls, all the waste comes out as heat, which becomes IR radiation, which is collected again using IR collectors (with 90%+ efficiency) and now you have a hydrogen fuel cell with 90%+ efficiency. 

See a trend here?  Any kind of technology can become 90%+ efficiency by collecting waste heat as IR using IR collectors.

Cool stuff.

Electric motocross bike.  Zero X.

Cool bike.  Cool tech.

A low-speed mode limits the bike to about 30 mph and is good for tooling around. Switch to high-speed mode and you get unfettered acceleration to about 57 mph. The Zero X will hit 30 mph in under two seconds and 57 in about twice that. Juice comes from a proprietary li-ion battery that weighs 40 pounds and provides about two hours of riding time. It recharges in about two hours using any household socket

Road bike in the works.

Company site: [linky]

Twelve and a half square miles of solar panels --> Produces 1/3 the power of one coal burning power plant.

Two Large Solar Plants Planned in California

That means to get the same output from a solar power facility as you would from a coal plant, that inhabits a few acres, you would need a facility in the neighborhood of 35 square miles.  That's a lot of space to have set aside for generating power.

What is the environmental impact comparison between the two?

The quote at the very end of the article is telling:

Neither approaches the economy of fossil-fuel burning plants, said Ms. Zerwer, the spokeswoman for Pacific Gas & Electric. But they will be competitive with wind power and with power from solar thermal plants, which are equipped with mirrors that use the sun’s heat to boil water into steam. And prices will fall, she predicted.

Then why build them?

Like a grandfather clock.  This is brilliant, but not produced yet.

To "turn on" the lamp, the user moves weights from the bottom to the top of the lamp. An hour-glass like mechanism is turned over and the weights are placed in the mass sled near the top of the lamp. The sled begins its gently glide back down and, within a few seconds, the LEDs come on and light the lamp,

That is very cool.

The LED lightbulb should last a lifetime so you are looking at a family heirloom.  Kind of a 21st century candle. 

What a perfect platform for an electric conversion.  The Porsche 914.

Russ Cunniff is the creator.  A home inventor and engineering manager at nVidia.  Here is his blog detailing the entire process. volt914 - Electric Porsche 914.  Most excellent Russ.  We here at techRivet salute you!