Follow-Up on Khayelitsha Streetlights
In
February, GroundUp published a report on the issue of street lights in
Khayelitsha, in particular on Lansdowne Road and Mew Way. Activist
organizations -- the Social Justice Coalition (SJC), Treatment Action
Campaign (TAC) and Equal Education (EE) -- held a march on 4 February in
Khayelitsha.We have a great selection of blown glass backyard solar
landscape lights and solar garden light.
City
of Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille, who attended the march, received a
memorandum that the City should ensure that street lights were
functioning in Khayelitsha. It also demanded that the City implement the
installation of street lights where they were not available and fix
damaged and vandalized lights within Lansdowne Road and Khayelitsha.
GroundUp ran a follow-up story in April, and it seems there has been some improvement.
Councillor
Danile Khatshwa of Ward 96 (Makhaza in Khayelitsha) said street lights
in his ward from Lindela Road to Baden Powell Drive have been fixed and
are working.
"Since I submitted complaints from residents within
my ward, the street lights have been fixed and are functioning. You
would only find that about one or two street lights are not working, but
I can say that there's been an improvement," he said.
Zodwa
Sinkempele (20), a Community Librarian at Equal Education said that she
has some mixed feelings when it comes to the issue of street lights.
"Since the march, I have seen some improvement in the functioning of the
[street] lights. But I don't know whether the City only fixed the
lights because we were pressuring them, or they only fixed the lights to
get us out of their way then discontinued with the work they were
supposed to do."
Khatshwa admitted there are however some parts of Khayelitsha that still remain in the dark.
"Despite
the improvements on street lights in Makhaza, major sections in
Khayelitsha still remain without functioning street lights,How does a solar charger
work and where would you use a solar charger? particularly along
Lansdowne Road .. Even some of the newly implemented streetlights are
not of the best quality."
Councillor Danile felt that the newly installed lights were not as bright as the previously installed lights,A solar lantern
uses this sunlight that is abundantly available to charge its batteries
through a Solar Panel and gives light in nighttime. and felt that much
brighter streetlights should have been installed. GroundUp went out at
night to see whether this statement was true. The streetlights at
Makhaza are very bright, and about 15 floodlights are providing light
for the Site B, Town Two and Makhaza areas.
In addition to the three small bedrooms, the one-story house has two discreet sleeping lofts.
"We
wanted small rooms," says Mr. Christiansen, which he says encourages
the family to get together in the large central living and dining area.
The master bedroom has a wall that opens entirely onto a private deck
overlooking a tree-lined yard.
They hoped to finish by Christmas
2011, but delays on foundation and basement work meant a half-year
postponement. They finally moved in July 2012, spending more than
$500,00 on the project.
A basement is unusual for a summer house
in the area, says Mr. Christiansen, but it was necessary to conceal the
complicated technology involved in making the house energy efficient.
Outfitted with a heat pump, solar panels and photovoltaic cells, the
house can generate all of its heating, and can contribute electricity to
the grid when the family is away.
Triple-glazed windows and
near-total insulation mean that controlled ventilation is essential, and
the house is programmed to ventilate itself four times a day. Heating
can be controlled by a smartphone app,Shop funtional and elegant solar
lights, outdoor solar lighting,
solar garden lights, path lights and decorative solar lights. which
allows the house to be just the right temperature when the family
arrives for winter weekends.
In addition to the main house, the
property has a new free-standing sauna, lined with ash wood and equipped
with a large picture window. The wood-burning sauna oven is imported
from Finland. Mr. Christiansen designed the sauna himself. "It is
beautiful sitting here in 175-degree heat," he says, of his winter sauna
sessions, which end with a roll in the snow.
Saunas aren't rare
in Denmark, but "most Danes who build a sauna end up using them for
storage," says Mr. Christiansen. The couple, looking ahead to the
property's resale value, built the sauna to be easily converted into a
guesthouse.
Read the full story at www.soli-lite.com!
2013年8月22日 星期四
Fuel as Lab in California Chases Dream
It sounds like magic, far-out fiction, a California dream. Yet
earnest scientists are hard at work on a new alchemy: brewing fuel for
cars -- synthetic gasoline -- from little more than water and sunshine.
Mimicking the way plants turn sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air into energy and oxygen, the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at the California Institute of Technology is in a race to trump nature and slow global warming. Nate Lewis, a Caltech professor and solar energy research star, has a plan to remake fuel as we know it.
“If we couldn’t get to that, we wouldn’t be doing it,” Lewis said in an interview last month.
The effort is backed with $122 million of U.S. Energy Department funds and combines the talents of 120 scientists at Caltech; Stanford University; the University of California’s Berkeley,How does a solar charger work and where would you use a solar charger?Shop funtional and elegant solar lights, outdoor solar lighting, solar garden lights, path lights and decorative solar lights. Irvine and San Diego campuses; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Along with electric powertrains, vehicles that drive themselves and cars rented by the hour, it’s another disruption of the global auto industry that dates back to the 19th century.
Just a few years ago, all-electric cars seemed fantastic, too. Now Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), which makes only battery-powered vehicles, has a higher market value than some old-line automakers, such as Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269) and Fiat SpA. (F)
Two Leaps
To revolutionize transportation fuel, Lewis has a two-step plan. Really, it’s two leaps.We carry a extensive line of Parking Lot Lighting inventory.
First, the coalition aims to develop a system to make large amounts of hydrogen fuel using cheap solar-panel-like devices. Liquid or gaseous hydrogen, which can power super-clean fuel-cell cars, is needed for chemical plants and refineries.
Then comes the second leap: Applying that same research to a system that can blend the hydrogen fuel with carbon dioxide from the air, much as a plant does, to make liquid fuels that can power cars, heavy trucks, boats or aircraft. JCAP aims to get to that point by the mid-2020s, Lewis said.
Synthetic, carbon-free gasoline won’t come easy, quick or cheap.
Research labs worldwide are racing to find renewable alternatives to petroleum. Some are private endeavors; others are government-funded. While some seek to make fuel from algae, corn or other crops, Lewis argues that such solutions require too much water or land that will be needed for food production.
Innovation Race
Research projects like JCAP have the luxury of not having to satisfy investors’ short-term demands, said Pavel Molchanov, a Houston-based analyst for Raymond James & Associates Inc.
“Companies that rely on private capital, even venture capital, in most cases aim to be commercial within the next three years,” said Molchanov, who follows biofuel companies. “If we think about what private developers of biofuels are focusing on now, none of them have a commercialization road map that goes out to 2025.”
Startups such as KiOR Inc., Solazyme Inc., Ceres Inc., Gevo Inc. and Amyris Inc. have a lead over JCAP because they’re already commercializing biofuel alternatives to petroleum and grain-based ethanol.
What JCAP has going for it is the Energy Department, which deemed it an Energy Innovation Hub, one of three Manhattan Project-like efforts. Others are to improve nuclear power plants and make buildings more energy-efficient. With the government funding, Lewis can be methodical in search of a breakthrough.
Wright Brothers
“The first five years of JCAP, our goal is to show that this can be done; to make the pieces, components, to build an artificial photosynthetic system,” he said. That prototype “isn’t going to be commercializable,We have a great selection of blown glass backyard solar landscape lights and solar garden light. in the same way the Wright Brothers’ plane wasn’t a 747. We first have to show people there’s a there there.”
About five years after that, with “faster, better, cheaper” fuel-making technology, JCAP may be able to license its system to oil and energy companies, Lewis said.
The program is talking with potential industrial partners to help expand its analysis of promising “earth-abundant” materials needed for its solar-fuel distillery. Lewis declined to identify specific companies. JCAP’s technicians daily are testing hundreds of alloys made from metallic salts, seeking the optimal recipe of low-cost, light-absorbing materials and catalysts needed for hydrogen generation.
Urgency to increase low-carbon energy sources has intensified as extreme weather adds to concerns that heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere are making the Earth a less hospitable planet.
President Barack Obama, whose administration funded JCAP, signaled in June that U.S. action to curb carbon emissions will intensify with new steps to pare such pollution from power plants,A solar lantern uses this sunlight that is abundantly available to charge its batteries through a Solar Panel and gives light in nighttime. the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Transportation Fuels
Second is the use of petroleum-based fuel in transportation. Engines in autos, trucks, aircraft and ships produced 28 percent of the 6.7 million metric tons emitted by the U.S. in 2011, according to the EPA, trailing only electricity generation’s 33 percent. Obama also laid out a plan in 2011 to double vehicle fuel efficiency by 2025 to cut carbon pollution.
Carmakers are boosting vehicle efficiency with small, high-output engines; propulsion delivered by batteries; and even hydrogen fuel cells.
Click on their website www.streetlights-solar.com for more information.
Mimicking the way plants turn sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air into energy and oxygen, the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis at the California Institute of Technology is in a race to trump nature and slow global warming. Nate Lewis, a Caltech professor and solar energy research star, has a plan to remake fuel as we know it.
“If we couldn’t get to that, we wouldn’t be doing it,” Lewis said in an interview last month.
The effort is backed with $122 million of U.S. Energy Department funds and combines the talents of 120 scientists at Caltech; Stanford University; the University of California’s Berkeley,How does a solar charger work and where would you use a solar charger?Shop funtional and elegant solar lights, outdoor solar lighting, solar garden lights, path lights and decorative solar lights. Irvine and San Diego campuses; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Along with electric powertrains, vehicles that drive themselves and cars rented by the hour, it’s another disruption of the global auto industry that dates back to the 19th century.
Just a few years ago, all-electric cars seemed fantastic, too. Now Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), which makes only battery-powered vehicles, has a higher market value than some old-line automakers, such as Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269) and Fiat SpA. (F)
Two Leaps
To revolutionize transportation fuel, Lewis has a two-step plan. Really, it’s two leaps.We carry a extensive line of Parking Lot Lighting inventory.
First, the coalition aims to develop a system to make large amounts of hydrogen fuel using cheap solar-panel-like devices. Liquid or gaseous hydrogen, which can power super-clean fuel-cell cars, is needed for chemical plants and refineries.
Then comes the second leap: Applying that same research to a system that can blend the hydrogen fuel with carbon dioxide from the air, much as a plant does, to make liquid fuels that can power cars, heavy trucks, boats or aircraft. JCAP aims to get to that point by the mid-2020s, Lewis said.
Synthetic, carbon-free gasoline won’t come easy, quick or cheap.
Research labs worldwide are racing to find renewable alternatives to petroleum. Some are private endeavors; others are government-funded. While some seek to make fuel from algae, corn or other crops, Lewis argues that such solutions require too much water or land that will be needed for food production.
Innovation Race
Research projects like JCAP have the luxury of not having to satisfy investors’ short-term demands, said Pavel Molchanov, a Houston-based analyst for Raymond James & Associates Inc.
“Companies that rely on private capital, even venture capital, in most cases aim to be commercial within the next three years,” said Molchanov, who follows biofuel companies. “If we think about what private developers of biofuels are focusing on now, none of them have a commercialization road map that goes out to 2025.”
Startups such as KiOR Inc., Solazyme Inc., Ceres Inc., Gevo Inc. and Amyris Inc. have a lead over JCAP because they’re already commercializing biofuel alternatives to petroleum and grain-based ethanol.
What JCAP has going for it is the Energy Department, which deemed it an Energy Innovation Hub, one of three Manhattan Project-like efforts. Others are to improve nuclear power plants and make buildings more energy-efficient. With the government funding, Lewis can be methodical in search of a breakthrough.
Wright Brothers
“The first five years of JCAP, our goal is to show that this can be done; to make the pieces, components, to build an artificial photosynthetic system,” he said. That prototype “isn’t going to be commercializable,We have a great selection of blown glass backyard solar landscape lights and solar garden light. in the same way the Wright Brothers’ plane wasn’t a 747. We first have to show people there’s a there there.”
About five years after that, with “faster, better, cheaper” fuel-making technology, JCAP may be able to license its system to oil and energy companies, Lewis said.
The program is talking with potential industrial partners to help expand its analysis of promising “earth-abundant” materials needed for its solar-fuel distillery. Lewis declined to identify specific companies. JCAP’s technicians daily are testing hundreds of alloys made from metallic salts, seeking the optimal recipe of low-cost, light-absorbing materials and catalysts needed for hydrogen generation.
Urgency to increase low-carbon energy sources has intensified as extreme weather adds to concerns that heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere are making the Earth a less hospitable planet.
President Barack Obama, whose administration funded JCAP, signaled in June that U.S. action to curb carbon emissions will intensify with new steps to pare such pollution from power plants,A solar lantern uses this sunlight that is abundantly available to charge its batteries through a Solar Panel and gives light in nighttime. the biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Transportation Fuels
Second is the use of petroleum-based fuel in transportation. Engines in autos, trucks, aircraft and ships produced 28 percent of the 6.7 million metric tons emitted by the U.S. in 2011, according to the EPA, trailing only electricity generation’s 33 percent. Obama also laid out a plan in 2011 to double vehicle fuel efficiency by 2025 to cut carbon pollution.
Carmakers are boosting vehicle efficiency with small, high-output engines; propulsion delivered by batteries; and even hydrogen fuel cells.
Click on their website www.streetlights-solar.com for more information.
2013年8月19日 星期一
Eugene art project makes light
Pedestrians and drivers in downtown Eugene might
notice something different about the traffic signal boxes that occupy space at
street corners with traffic lights.The difference will be if they notice the
boxes at all.Last month, the gray cubes, which house electrical equipment to
operate traffic lights, were made over with loud, whimsical, colorful murals,
turning infrastructure into art.
You might have mistaken Bayne Gardner for a graffiti artist if you saw him drawing a masked face on the steel box at the corner of 10th Avenue and Oak Street. In fact, Eugene’s city government was paying Gardner to paint the drab, unassuming box with eye-catching art.Most modern headlight designs include Wholesale HID Kit.
Using money from Eugene’s percent-for-art ordinance, which dedicates 1 percent of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects to public art, the city’s Cultural Services Department took an unusual approach to its latest project.
“People were tired of bronze sculptures,” says Isaac Marquez, the city’s public art manager.
Since last month, murals from four local artists have cropped up on 15 downtown street corners. A final one will be completed at the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Onyx Street within the next week or so.
The murals, which are unusual in appearance and in placement, interact with citizens more strongly than an oil painting tucked away in the library, and reflect the current art scene more aptly than a metal sculpture in the park. Marquez says city officials took the new approach in response to a 2010 survey, in which citizens expressed a desire for interactive, two-dimensional art in everyday settings.
The city recruited artists through social media and newspaper advertisements. Applicants were asked to submit an image of their proposed box, and a committee selected three winners — Alex Southworth, Wendy Huhn and Bryan Putnam — from a pool of 12 applicants.
The artists painted five boxes each, at a rate of $300 for small boxes and $500 for large boxes. Gardner won a people’s choice contest on Facebook and a $500 contract to paint the box on 10th and Oak. “I tried to make each side a little different,” he says. “I wanted, since it’s a four-sided object, to capture someone to look at all the sides.” Eugene isn’t the first to use its utility boxes as canvases. Santa Cruz, Calif., Seattle, Little Rock, Ark., and several other cities in the U.S. and abroad have sponsored initiatives similar to “Art the Box.”
In Eugene, artists’ work was strategically placed to fit the aesthetic of downtown streets.
Southworth’s murals, with their edgy, severe vibe, lined street corners on West 11th Avenue, near a heavy metal bar, a roller derby supply store and a tattoo parlor. Huhn’s bright and poppy murals line 13th Avenue,We installed flexible LED Strip lighting in our kitchen for under cabinet and within cabinet lighting. where a hair salon, a coffee shop and a computer repair store lead to the University of Oregon campus. “The response I wanted was exactly what I got from people,” Huhn says. “They said, ‘Oh, these just make me happy.'"Putnam’s work, inspired by Northwest mythology, is in the park blocks, where huge sequoia trees tower overhead.
As the artists worked, passers-by stopped to take pictures, offer lemonade, donuts and money, and inquire about whether the work was legal. “A couple of people called the cops on me,” Southworth says. The images are designed to last two years. They serve a dual purpose of enlivening a bland surface and deterring graffiti taggers. Each is covered with a layer of graffiti prevention coating. If a box is tagged, the graffiti can be wiped off without damaging the artwork.
Citizens toured the boxes during August’s First Friday ArtWalk, and listened as the artists talked about their work. Marquez says no more public events are planned, but those interested in touring the boxes can easily do so. Use the map with this story to conduct a personal walking tour of the artful infrastructure.There are all kinds of car daytime running lights with good quality.
You might have mistaken Bayne Gardner for a graffiti artist if you saw him drawing a masked face on the steel box at the corner of 10th Avenue and Oak Street. In fact, Eugene’s city government was paying Gardner to paint the drab, unassuming box with eye-catching art.Most modern headlight designs include Wholesale HID Kit.
Using money from Eugene’s percent-for-art ordinance, which dedicates 1 percent of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects to public art, the city’s Cultural Services Department took an unusual approach to its latest project.
“People were tired of bronze sculptures,” says Isaac Marquez, the city’s public art manager.
Since last month, murals from four local artists have cropped up on 15 downtown street corners. A final one will be completed at the corner of Franklin Boulevard and Onyx Street within the next week or so.
The murals, which are unusual in appearance and in placement, interact with citizens more strongly than an oil painting tucked away in the library, and reflect the current art scene more aptly than a metal sculpture in the park. Marquez says city officials took the new approach in response to a 2010 survey, in which citizens expressed a desire for interactive, two-dimensional art in everyday settings.
The city recruited artists through social media and newspaper advertisements. Applicants were asked to submit an image of their proposed box, and a committee selected three winners — Alex Southworth, Wendy Huhn and Bryan Putnam — from a pool of 12 applicants.
The artists painted five boxes each, at a rate of $300 for small boxes and $500 for large boxes. Gardner won a people’s choice contest on Facebook and a $500 contract to paint the box on 10th and Oak. “I tried to make each side a little different,” he says. “I wanted, since it’s a four-sided object, to capture someone to look at all the sides.” Eugene isn’t the first to use its utility boxes as canvases. Santa Cruz, Calif., Seattle, Little Rock, Ark., and several other cities in the U.S. and abroad have sponsored initiatives similar to “Art the Box.”
In Eugene, artists’ work was strategically placed to fit the aesthetic of downtown streets.
Southworth’s murals, with their edgy, severe vibe, lined street corners on West 11th Avenue, near a heavy metal bar, a roller derby supply store and a tattoo parlor. Huhn’s bright and poppy murals line 13th Avenue,We installed flexible LED Strip lighting in our kitchen for under cabinet and within cabinet lighting. where a hair salon, a coffee shop and a computer repair store lead to the University of Oregon campus. “The response I wanted was exactly what I got from people,” Huhn says. “They said, ‘Oh, these just make me happy.'"Putnam’s work, inspired by Northwest mythology, is in the park blocks, where huge sequoia trees tower overhead.
As the artists worked, passers-by stopped to take pictures, offer lemonade, donuts and money, and inquire about whether the work was legal. “A couple of people called the cops on me,” Southworth says. The images are designed to last two years. They serve a dual purpose of enlivening a bland surface and deterring graffiti taggers. Each is covered with a layer of graffiti prevention coating. If a box is tagged, the graffiti can be wiped off without damaging the artwork.
Citizens toured the boxes during August’s First Friday ArtWalk, and listened as the artists talked about their work. Marquez says no more public events are planned, but those interested in touring the boxes can easily do so. Use the map with this story to conduct a personal walking tour of the artful infrastructure.There are all kinds of car daytime running lights with good quality.
For more information, please visit www.hmhid.com.
DAN HARVEY was a fat kid
DAN HARVEY was a fat kid, which is probably why we became friends in
the first place. In the rigid corporeal hierarchy of childhood, you’re
either the right weight or you’re not: too big and you’re a fat-ass; too
skinny and you’re a faggot. We were a perfect pair, like something out
of a children’s tale: the Elephant and the Giraffe, as we nicknamed
ourselves during a trip to the Toronto Zoo. What might it be like to
take up a different kind of space in the world? But Dan and I were stuck
with the bodies we had.
We grew up on neighbouring cul-de-sacs in Guelph, Ontario, and our elementary school was nearby. During recess, Dan sat by himself near the school doors, flicking pebbles at nothing. I was stick thin and bookish. Without a father, I had never learned to move like the other boys, didn’t know how to throw a football or swing a bat. So Dan and I found each other. In junior high, as cliques hardened, we drew closer, sitting for hours in his wood-panelled basement, where we talked about bands—Radiohead, Tool, Pink Floyd—in the rockist shorthand of teenage boys.
Dan played the saxophone then, and he looked as if he were fighting the thing, his cheeks red and puffed, his pudgy fingers manipulating the keys. He was, more than anyone I’ve ever known, an embodied person, moving like a tank and altering the gravity of any room he entered. He highlighted his curly brown hair with blond, and often wore two shirts at a time, as if trying to constrain his bulging proportions.
In grade nine, Dan and I attended the Halloween dance. Kids strutted around like pubescent bowerbirds, and we lurked on the fringes, terrified of the costumed girls around us. A few of them approached. One, a short brunette with blue eyes and a wide smile, had noticed Dan. She was dressed as a bee, black and yellow antennae wiggling on her head. I pushed Dan—who was convinced that he’d die a fat virgin—in her direction.
“I hear you like me,” Dan said.
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to go out?”
“Yeah.”
They danced the rest of the night, the girl’s hands reaching up to rest on Dan’s shoulders, his fingers closing around her waist. As we walked home, Dan realized that he had forgotten to ask her name. It was Jess.
By now, Dan’s rolls were starting to solidify. While I remained gawky, he developed into a natural athlete, his size—six feet four and nearly 300 pounds—an asset instead of a humiliation. He played football and basketball but grew to adore rugby, addicted to the sheer physicality of the sport. Acting also drew him in, and though he was usually typecast as the dumb jock or the idiot sheriff, he loved the attention. It was a way of attracting the spotlight on his own terms; you couldn’t call him fat if he called himself fat first. When we formed a band—I took up the guitar, Dan played bass—he sometimes prefaced performances with an apology. “If I mess up, it’s not my fault,” he told the audience. “I was born with fat fingers.”
He was still the closest friend I had, but I resented him, too. He had buddies on the football team and a girlfriend; he lost his virginity two years before I did. When he got his driver’s licence, I started treating him like a chauffeur. I was not allowed to stay out past midnight, and I was terrified of driving, so after parties Dan took me home in his parents’ Sebring before returning to the kegger to get drunk and sleep on the couch. Even as he ferried me around, I made sure he knew which of us was the smart one,We installed flexible LED Strip lighting in our kitchen for under cabinet and within cabinet lighting. who was the better musician, and who could name the studio where “The Bends” was recorded. Dan rarely said a word in reply. He just fidgeted uncomfortably, pushing his mass deeper into the seat, lifting one hand from the steering wheel to adjust his blue Tar Heels cap.
At the beginning of grade eleven, Dan got the red and yellow Superman logo tattooed on his right bicep. He had always been obsessed with the superhero, collecting comic books and Christopher Reeve movies and T-shirts.Most modern headlight designs include Wholesale HID Kit. Superman,There are all kinds of car daytime running lights with good quality. originally from the dying planet Krypton, is an attractive idol, his body a hard pile of muscle, capable of scattering bullets and soaring through solar systems. In “Superman: The Movie,” from 1978, he even turns back time by reversing Earth’s rotation. Superman is so unbeatable that his creators had to invent an antidote to his abilities: kryptonite, a mysterious green element that renders him powerless.
Read the full story at www.hmhid.com!
We grew up on neighbouring cul-de-sacs in Guelph, Ontario, and our elementary school was nearby. During recess, Dan sat by himself near the school doors, flicking pebbles at nothing. I was stick thin and bookish. Without a father, I had never learned to move like the other boys, didn’t know how to throw a football or swing a bat. So Dan and I found each other. In junior high, as cliques hardened, we drew closer, sitting for hours in his wood-panelled basement, where we talked about bands—Radiohead, Tool, Pink Floyd—in the rockist shorthand of teenage boys.
Dan played the saxophone then, and he looked as if he were fighting the thing, his cheeks red and puffed, his pudgy fingers manipulating the keys. He was, more than anyone I’ve ever known, an embodied person, moving like a tank and altering the gravity of any room he entered. He highlighted his curly brown hair with blond, and often wore two shirts at a time, as if trying to constrain his bulging proportions.
In grade nine, Dan and I attended the Halloween dance. Kids strutted around like pubescent bowerbirds, and we lurked on the fringes, terrified of the costumed girls around us. A few of them approached. One, a short brunette with blue eyes and a wide smile, had noticed Dan. She was dressed as a bee, black and yellow antennae wiggling on her head. I pushed Dan—who was convinced that he’d die a fat virgin—in her direction.
“I hear you like me,” Dan said.
“Yeah.”
“Do you want to go out?”
“Yeah.”
They danced the rest of the night, the girl’s hands reaching up to rest on Dan’s shoulders, his fingers closing around her waist. As we walked home, Dan realized that he had forgotten to ask her name. It was Jess.
By now, Dan’s rolls were starting to solidify. While I remained gawky, he developed into a natural athlete, his size—six feet four and nearly 300 pounds—an asset instead of a humiliation. He played football and basketball but grew to adore rugby, addicted to the sheer physicality of the sport. Acting also drew him in, and though he was usually typecast as the dumb jock or the idiot sheriff, he loved the attention. It was a way of attracting the spotlight on his own terms; you couldn’t call him fat if he called himself fat first. When we formed a band—I took up the guitar, Dan played bass—he sometimes prefaced performances with an apology. “If I mess up, it’s not my fault,” he told the audience. “I was born with fat fingers.”
He was still the closest friend I had, but I resented him, too. He had buddies on the football team and a girlfriend; he lost his virginity two years before I did. When he got his driver’s licence, I started treating him like a chauffeur. I was not allowed to stay out past midnight, and I was terrified of driving, so after parties Dan took me home in his parents’ Sebring before returning to the kegger to get drunk and sleep on the couch. Even as he ferried me around, I made sure he knew which of us was the smart one,We installed flexible LED Strip lighting in our kitchen for under cabinet and within cabinet lighting. who was the better musician, and who could name the studio where “The Bends” was recorded. Dan rarely said a word in reply. He just fidgeted uncomfortably, pushing his mass deeper into the seat, lifting one hand from the steering wheel to adjust his blue Tar Heels cap.
At the beginning of grade eleven, Dan got the red and yellow Superman logo tattooed on his right bicep. He had always been obsessed with the superhero, collecting comic books and Christopher Reeve movies and T-shirts.Most modern headlight designs include Wholesale HID Kit. Superman,There are all kinds of car daytime running lights with good quality. originally from the dying planet Krypton, is an attractive idol, his body a hard pile of muscle, capable of scattering bullets and soaring through solar systems. In “Superman: The Movie,” from 1978, he even turns back time by reversing Earth’s rotation. Superman is so unbeatable that his creators had to invent an antidote to his abilities: kryptonite, a mysterious green element that renders him powerless.
Read the full story at www.hmhid.com!
JPMorgan’s China hiring
US regulators are investigating the hiring practices of JPMorgan
Chase in Hong Kong,The world’s most efficient and cost effective hid lights?
in a move that could cast an unflattering light on the relationships
between Wall Street banks and the sons and daughters of Chinese
government officials.
JPMorgan disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that it has received a request from the US Securities and Exchange Commission “seeking information and documents relating to, among other matters, the firm’s employment of certain former employees in Hong Kong and its business relationships with certain clients”.The world's largest independent online retailer for solar lighting, street lights & outdoor lighting fixtures.
A person familiar with the investigation said that it involves the bank’s hiring of Tang Xiaoning, son of a former Chinese banking regulator who is now chairman of the state-owned China Everbright Group, and Zhang Xixi, the daughter of a Chinese railway official.
A Beijing-based spokesperson for JPMorgan said the bank was fully co-operating with the US authorities but declined to comment further.
The investigation is likely to cause consternation on Wall Street and in the corridors of power in China, where hiring the sons and daughters of prominent politicians or business leaders is considered de rigueur as part of a system that places heavy emphasis on “guanxi,” or personal connections, as a way of securing new business.
In their rush to capitalise on China’s economic growth, virtually all the big Wall Street and European financial institutions with operations in the country have habitually hired “princelings”, as the children of senior Chinese officials are known.
Goldman Sachs once hired Jiang Zhicheng, grandson of the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, for its direct private investment arm, for instance.
A senior Chinese official told the Financial Times that the Chinese government had not launched its own investigation into JPMorgan or its hiring practices in the country, but that the revelations are causing concern because the practice of hiring the children of senior officials to work at financial institutions is very common.
Some individual Chinese officials are worried their own children could also be named in media reports or in investigations in the US, the senior official said.
Two people familiar with the matter confirmed that Tang Xiaoning and Zhang Xixi had previously worked at JPMorgan and that Mr Tang left the company in December 2012. Attempts to reach Mr Tang and Ms Zhang were unsuccessful.
A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment on the investigation, which was first reported by the New York Times.Thank you for providing us with information to help us maintain street light.
US authorities have to date rarely investigated Wall Street’s business practices in China, though a former Morgan Stanley adviser was last year sent to prison after bribing a Chinese official to win lucrative real estate investments for the bank.
In recent years, foreign banks are said to have found it increasingly difficult to attract the offspring of the country’s most senior leaders thanks to the rise of a domestic private equity industry that provides lucrative opportunities for Chinese investors with powerful family backgrounds.
In private conversations, executives at western banks admit they are now more likely to hire the children of vice-ministers or provincial vice-governors, whereas a few years ago the parents of their recruits were usually minister level or above.
The investigation could add to JPMorgan’s recent regulatory woes. The investment bank faces a string of regulatory investigations related to its $6bn “London Whale” trading loss, as well as questions over its commodities and energy businesses.
Click on their website www.hmhid.com for more information.
JPMorgan disclosed in a recent regulatory filing that it has received a request from the US Securities and Exchange Commission “seeking information and documents relating to, among other matters, the firm’s employment of certain former employees in Hong Kong and its business relationships with certain clients”.The world's largest independent online retailer for solar lighting, street lights & outdoor lighting fixtures.
A person familiar with the investigation said that it involves the bank’s hiring of Tang Xiaoning, son of a former Chinese banking regulator who is now chairman of the state-owned China Everbright Group, and Zhang Xixi, the daughter of a Chinese railway official.
A Beijing-based spokesperson for JPMorgan said the bank was fully co-operating with the US authorities but declined to comment further.
The investigation is likely to cause consternation on Wall Street and in the corridors of power in China, where hiring the sons and daughters of prominent politicians or business leaders is considered de rigueur as part of a system that places heavy emphasis on “guanxi,” or personal connections, as a way of securing new business.
In their rush to capitalise on China’s economic growth, virtually all the big Wall Street and European financial institutions with operations in the country have habitually hired “princelings”, as the children of senior Chinese officials are known.
Goldman Sachs once hired Jiang Zhicheng, grandson of the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, for its direct private investment arm, for instance.
A senior Chinese official told the Financial Times that the Chinese government had not launched its own investigation into JPMorgan or its hiring practices in the country, but that the revelations are causing concern because the practice of hiring the children of senior officials to work at financial institutions is very common.
Some individual Chinese officials are worried their own children could also be named in media reports or in investigations in the US, the senior official said.
Two people familiar with the matter confirmed that Tang Xiaoning and Zhang Xixi had previously worked at JPMorgan and that Mr Tang left the company in December 2012. Attempts to reach Mr Tang and Ms Zhang were unsuccessful.
A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment on the investigation, which was first reported by the New York Times.Thank you for providing us with information to help us maintain street light.
US authorities have to date rarely investigated Wall Street’s business practices in China, though a former Morgan Stanley adviser was last year sent to prison after bribing a Chinese official to win lucrative real estate investments for the bank.
In recent years, foreign banks are said to have found it increasingly difficult to attract the offspring of the country’s most senior leaders thanks to the rise of a domestic private equity industry that provides lucrative opportunities for Chinese investors with powerful family backgrounds.
In private conversations, executives at western banks admit they are now more likely to hire the children of vice-ministers or provincial vice-governors, whereas a few years ago the parents of their recruits were usually minister level or above.
The investigation could add to JPMorgan’s recent regulatory woes. The investment bank faces a string of regulatory investigations related to its $6bn “London Whale” trading loss, as well as questions over its commodities and energy businesses.
Click on their website www.hmhid.com for more information.
2013年8月15日 星期四
The Los Angeles State Historic Park
The Los Angeles State Historic Park was a whirlwind of cigarette
smoke, heavy bass, fat beats, and electrifying energy on Aug. 3 and 4.
Set in the heart of Chinatown, L.A. State Historic Park was home to HARD
Summer Music Festival 2013, headlining artists such as Knife Party,
Duck Sauce, Dog Blood, Justice, Bassnectar, and Empire of the Sun. With
the L.A. skyline setting the city vibes, this electronic event proved
that the bass will only get deeper, disco is not dead (and it is
bringing funk back with it), the words hip-hop and EDM are synonymous,
and that the traffic was well worth the drive.
This year, HARD Summer’s lineup was double the size of last year’s, starting at 12:30 p.m. and ending at midnight. Temperatures were in the mid 70s at daytime and the low 60s at night, allowing festival-goers in various attire reasonable comfort. Although the festival did not officially allow fur boots or candy bracelets, girls clad in booty shorts, pasties, bras, glitter, and fur boots could be spotted next to bros in tanks (or perhaps going shirtless), flip flops, and multi-colored plastic wayfarers. However, this typical rave style was minimal and many others sported the latest urban street wear, consisting of tailored shorts and pants, boots, kicks, dress shoes, flannels, dresses, gold chains, and, for some men, groovy facial hair. Thankfully, only a few could be spotted with feather headdresses and flower headbands.
The festival housed four stages that each gave off certain vibes depending on the line-up: HARD, HARDer, Summer, and Underground. The main stage, HARD Stage, was the destination of headlining artists and usually consisted of more visually stimulating props and performances because it had the largest LED screens and more stage space, allowing artists such as Duck Sauce, Empire of the Sun, and Bassnectar to further enhance the audience’s senses. HARDer Stage was what the name entailed — harder — but not hardstyle itself. This stage provided audiences bass heavy and high energy beats from artists such as RL Grime, Flying Lotus, Dillon Francis, and Flosstradamus. Summer Stage was like a getaway, where those looking for experimental, diverse, or peculiar sounds could wander off to. Even the layout entailed a journey to another part of the festival, as festival-goers would walk over a slight hill toward the city skyline to reach this stage. Artists such as Keys N’ Krates, Brodinski, Breakbot, and Justice (DJ set) performed here.A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets. Lastly, the Underground Stage was the only tented stage and had an amazing sound system, allowing artists like Disclosure,It is also known as led dimmable driver, LED daytime running lamps. Breach, Oliver, and Claude Vonstroke an umbrella to reverberate their funky, deep house bass and flashing lights.
Even with Bondax and Azealia Banks cancelling their performances at HARD Summer, the talent from both emerging and established artists fulfilled the cravings of bass, hip-hop, rap, nu-disco, experimental, synth-pop, house, and electro heads alike. From live sets to DJ sets, and everything outside the box, HARD Summer proved that “EDM” is an overused blanket term for a large array of electronic styles. Keep your ears open for the following artists as they have demonstrated why they are, or will be, shaping the forefront of electronic music.
DAY 1:XXYYXX, Keys N’ Krates, RL Grime, Duke Dumont, Disclosure, Dog Blood, Duck Sauce, Oliver, and Knife Party
My day started late, as I had underestimated how congested the freeway and chaotic the parking would be. I arrived at the festival grounds too late to catch the Canadian DJ and producer Ryan Hemsworth’s electronic, abstract hip-hop set, but I did arrive in time for XXYYXX. Seventeen-year-old Marcel Everett set the mood of the Underground Stage with his chill, ambient beats. Marcel played his classic hits from the self-titled album XXYYXX, including “Closer,” “Set It Off,” and “Love Isn’t Made.” Marcel also infused his down-tempo beats and sounds with other works, like Rihanna’s “Cake,” to which the crowd delightfully licked the icing off.
Although I did not see two sets that I had anticipated, XXYYXX got the ball rolling, and I made my way to watch the trap trio Keys N’ Krates. As I passed HARDer Stage towards Summer, Just Blaze blasted his version of Major Lazer’s “Original Don,” followed by Bingo Player’s “When I Dip.”
Summer Stage felt like a small hip-hop show infused with an electro-house party as the live remix band, Keys N’ Krates, showcased their unique approach to electronic music. Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Keys N’ Krates includes Jr. Flo on turntables, David Matisse on the synthesizer, and Adam Tune on the 808 drum machine. Layering samples with tunes of their own to create clean blends and sharp melodies, the band played originals like “Treat Me Right” and a variety of hip-hop remixes, including Jay-Z’s “I’m A Hustler Baby” and “Dirt Off Your Shoulder.” The three instruments purred as Jr. Flo scratched to Adam’s meticulous drum beats and David pumped the crowd up from his synthesizer, saying, “Who here loves hip-hop?” The crowd bopped their lifted hands to the beat, to which David responded, “Keep those hands up. Here we go!” With build ups and drops created right on stage, Keys N’ Krates reminded the electronic scene that live, hands-on instrumentation and remixing can not only mimic computer programs but also outshine them.
From this show, I made my way to the Soundcloud famous trap/house artist RL Grime. RL Grime is a side project of Henry Steinway, who produces and DJs under the name Clockwork. RL Grime provided the trap heavy elements festival-goers could get crunk to with his originals “Trap On Acid,” “Flood,” and songs from his new EP, “High Beams.” He sampled Flosstradamus’ “Crowd Control,An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.” Kanye West’s “Clique,” DJ Snake’s “Bird Machine,” Notorious BIG’s “Suicidal Thoughts,” and Cashmere Cat’s edit of “Do You Like…” by Miguel. Although the bass at HARDer Stage did not do his head-banging drops justice, RL Grime had the hyper crowd swaying, especially when he bumped the remix that first garnered him attention, “Satisfaction” by Benny Benassi.More information about the program is available on the web site at www.hmhid.com.
This year, HARD Summer’s lineup was double the size of last year’s, starting at 12:30 p.m. and ending at midnight. Temperatures were in the mid 70s at daytime and the low 60s at night, allowing festival-goers in various attire reasonable comfort. Although the festival did not officially allow fur boots or candy bracelets, girls clad in booty shorts, pasties, bras, glitter, and fur boots could be spotted next to bros in tanks (or perhaps going shirtless), flip flops, and multi-colored plastic wayfarers. However, this typical rave style was minimal and many others sported the latest urban street wear, consisting of tailored shorts and pants, boots, kicks, dress shoes, flannels, dresses, gold chains, and, for some men, groovy facial hair. Thankfully, only a few could be spotted with feather headdresses and flower headbands.
The festival housed four stages that each gave off certain vibes depending on the line-up: HARD, HARDer, Summer, and Underground. The main stage, HARD Stage, was the destination of headlining artists and usually consisted of more visually stimulating props and performances because it had the largest LED screens and more stage space, allowing artists such as Duck Sauce, Empire of the Sun, and Bassnectar to further enhance the audience’s senses. HARDer Stage was what the name entailed — harder — but not hardstyle itself. This stage provided audiences bass heavy and high energy beats from artists such as RL Grime, Flying Lotus, Dillon Francis, and Flosstradamus. Summer Stage was like a getaway, where those looking for experimental, diverse, or peculiar sounds could wander off to. Even the layout entailed a journey to another part of the festival, as festival-goers would walk over a slight hill toward the city skyline to reach this stage. Artists such as Keys N’ Krates, Brodinski, Breakbot, and Justice (DJ set) performed here.A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets. Lastly, the Underground Stage was the only tented stage and had an amazing sound system, allowing artists like Disclosure,It is also known as led dimmable driver, LED daytime running lamps. Breach, Oliver, and Claude Vonstroke an umbrella to reverberate their funky, deep house bass and flashing lights.
Even with Bondax and Azealia Banks cancelling their performances at HARD Summer, the talent from both emerging and established artists fulfilled the cravings of bass, hip-hop, rap, nu-disco, experimental, synth-pop, house, and electro heads alike. From live sets to DJ sets, and everything outside the box, HARD Summer proved that “EDM” is an overused blanket term for a large array of electronic styles. Keep your ears open for the following artists as they have demonstrated why they are, or will be, shaping the forefront of electronic music.
DAY 1:XXYYXX, Keys N’ Krates, RL Grime, Duke Dumont, Disclosure, Dog Blood, Duck Sauce, Oliver, and Knife Party
My day started late, as I had underestimated how congested the freeway and chaotic the parking would be. I arrived at the festival grounds too late to catch the Canadian DJ and producer Ryan Hemsworth’s electronic, abstract hip-hop set, but I did arrive in time for XXYYXX. Seventeen-year-old Marcel Everett set the mood of the Underground Stage with his chill, ambient beats. Marcel played his classic hits from the self-titled album XXYYXX, including “Closer,” “Set It Off,” and “Love Isn’t Made.” Marcel also infused his down-tempo beats and sounds with other works, like Rihanna’s “Cake,” to which the crowd delightfully licked the icing off.
Although I did not see two sets that I had anticipated, XXYYXX got the ball rolling, and I made my way to watch the trap trio Keys N’ Krates. As I passed HARDer Stage towards Summer, Just Blaze blasted his version of Major Lazer’s “Original Don,” followed by Bingo Player’s “When I Dip.”
Summer Stage felt like a small hip-hop show infused with an electro-house party as the live remix band, Keys N’ Krates, showcased their unique approach to electronic music. Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Keys N’ Krates includes Jr. Flo on turntables, David Matisse on the synthesizer, and Adam Tune on the 808 drum machine. Layering samples with tunes of their own to create clean blends and sharp melodies, the band played originals like “Treat Me Right” and a variety of hip-hop remixes, including Jay-Z’s “I’m A Hustler Baby” and “Dirt Off Your Shoulder.” The three instruments purred as Jr. Flo scratched to Adam’s meticulous drum beats and David pumped the crowd up from his synthesizer, saying, “Who here loves hip-hop?” The crowd bopped their lifted hands to the beat, to which David responded, “Keep those hands up. Here we go!” With build ups and drops created right on stage, Keys N’ Krates reminded the electronic scene that live, hands-on instrumentation and remixing can not only mimic computer programs but also outshine them.
From this show, I made my way to the Soundcloud famous trap/house artist RL Grime. RL Grime is a side project of Henry Steinway, who produces and DJs under the name Clockwork. RL Grime provided the trap heavy elements festival-goers could get crunk to with his originals “Trap On Acid,” “Flood,” and songs from his new EP, “High Beams.” He sampled Flosstradamus’ “Crowd Control,An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.” Kanye West’s “Clique,” DJ Snake’s “Bird Machine,” Notorious BIG’s “Suicidal Thoughts,” and Cashmere Cat’s edit of “Do You Like…” by Miguel. Although the bass at HARDer Stage did not do his head-banging drops justice, RL Grime had the hyper crowd swaying, especially when he bumped the remix that first garnered him attention, “Satisfaction” by Benny Benassi.More information about the program is available on the web site at www.hmhid.com.
Doping Improves Thin Film
Flexible thin film solar cells that can be produced by roll-to-roll
manufacturing are a highly promising route to cheap solar electricity.
Now scientists from Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials
Science and Technology, have made significant progress in paving the way
for the industrialization of flexible, light-weight and low-cost
cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells on metal foils. They succeeded in
increasing their efficiency from below eight to 11.5 percent by doping
the cells with copper, as they report in the current issue of Nature
Communications.
In order to make solar energy widely affordable scientists and engineers all over the world are looking for low-cost production technologies. Flexible thin film solar cells have a huge potential in this regard because they require only a minimum amount of materials and can be manufactured in large quantities by roll-to-roll processing. One such technology relies on CdTe to convert sunlight into electricity. With a current market share that is second only to silicon-based solar cells CdTe cells already today are cheapest in terms of production costs.It is also known as led dimmable driver, LED daytime running lamps. Grown mainly on rigid glass plates, these so-called superstrate cells have, however, one drawback: they require a transparent supporting material that lets sunlight pass through to reach the light-harvesting CdTe layer, thus limiting the choice of carriers to transparent materials.
The inversion of the solar cell’s multi-layer structure – the so-called substrate configuration – would allow further cost-cuttings by using flexible foils made of, say, metal as supporting material. Sunlight now enters the cell from the other side, without having to pass through the supporting substrate. The problem, though, is that CdTe cells in substrate configuration on metal foil thus far exhibited infamously low efficiencies well below eight percent – a modest comparison to the recently reported record efficiency of 19.6 percent for a lab-scale superstrate CdTe cell on glass. (Commercially available CdTe superstrate modules reach efficiencies of between 11 and 12 percent.)
Copper doping for solar cells
One way to increase the low energy conversion efficiency of substrate CdTe cells is p-type doping of the semiconductor layer with minute amounts of metals such as copper (Cu). This would lead to an increase in the density of “holes” (positive charge carriers) as well as their lifetimes, and thus result in a high photovoltaic power, the amount of sunlight that is turned into electrical energy. A perfect idea – if CdTe weren’t so notoriously hard to dope. “People have tried to dope CdTe cells in substrate configuration before but failed time and again,” explains Ayodhya Nath Tiwari, head of Empa’s laboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics.
His team decided to try nonetheless using high-vacuum Cu evaporation onto the CdTe layer with a subsequent heat treatment to allow the Cu atoms to penetrate into the CdTe. They soon realized that the amount of Cu had to be painstakingly controlled: if they used too little, the efficiency wouldn’t improve much; the very same happened if they “over-doped.An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.”
The electronic properties improved significantly, however, when Lukas Kranz, a PhD student in Tiwari’s lab, together with Christina Gretener and Julian Perrenoud fine-tuned the amount of Cu evaporation so that a mono-atomic layer of Cu would be deposited on the CdTe. “Efficiencies increased dramatically, from just under one percent to above 12,” says Kranz. Their best value was 13.6 percent for a CdTe cell grown on glass; on metal foils Tiwari’s team reached efficiencies up to 11.5 percent.
Increasingly ambitious targets: hitting the 20 percent ceiling
For now, the highest efficiencies of flexible CdTe solar cells on metal foil are still somewhat lower than those of flexible solar cells in superstrate configuration on a special (and expensive) transparent polyimide foil, developed by Tiwari’s team in 2011. But, says co-author Stephan Buecheler, a group leader in the lab, “Our results indicate that the substrate configuration technology has a great potential for improving the efficiency even further in the future.” Their short-term goal is to reach 15 percent. “But I’m convinced that the material has the potential for efficiencies exceeding 20 percent.” The next steps will focus on decreasing the thickness of the so-called window layer above the CdTe, including the electrical front contact. This would reduce light absorption and, therefore, allow more sunlight to be harvested by the CdTe layer. “Cutting the optical losses,A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets.” is how Tiwari puts it.Please visit his website at www.hmhid.com.
In order to make solar energy widely affordable scientists and engineers all over the world are looking for low-cost production technologies. Flexible thin film solar cells have a huge potential in this regard because they require only a minimum amount of materials and can be manufactured in large quantities by roll-to-roll processing. One such technology relies on CdTe to convert sunlight into electricity. With a current market share that is second only to silicon-based solar cells CdTe cells already today are cheapest in terms of production costs.It is also known as led dimmable driver, LED daytime running lamps. Grown mainly on rigid glass plates, these so-called superstrate cells have, however, one drawback: they require a transparent supporting material that lets sunlight pass through to reach the light-harvesting CdTe layer, thus limiting the choice of carriers to transparent materials.
The inversion of the solar cell’s multi-layer structure – the so-called substrate configuration – would allow further cost-cuttings by using flexible foils made of, say, metal as supporting material. Sunlight now enters the cell from the other side, without having to pass through the supporting substrate. The problem, though, is that CdTe cells in substrate configuration on metal foil thus far exhibited infamously low efficiencies well below eight percent – a modest comparison to the recently reported record efficiency of 19.6 percent for a lab-scale superstrate CdTe cell on glass. (Commercially available CdTe superstrate modules reach efficiencies of between 11 and 12 percent.)
Copper doping for solar cells
One way to increase the low energy conversion efficiency of substrate CdTe cells is p-type doping of the semiconductor layer with minute amounts of metals such as copper (Cu). This would lead to an increase in the density of “holes” (positive charge carriers) as well as their lifetimes, and thus result in a high photovoltaic power, the amount of sunlight that is turned into electrical energy. A perfect idea – if CdTe weren’t so notoriously hard to dope. “People have tried to dope CdTe cells in substrate configuration before but failed time and again,” explains Ayodhya Nath Tiwari, head of Empa’s laboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics.
His team decided to try nonetheless using high-vacuum Cu evaporation onto the CdTe layer with a subsequent heat treatment to allow the Cu atoms to penetrate into the CdTe. They soon realized that the amount of Cu had to be painstakingly controlled: if they used too little, the efficiency wouldn’t improve much; the very same happened if they “over-doped.An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage.”
The electronic properties improved significantly, however, when Lukas Kranz, a PhD student in Tiwari’s lab, together with Christina Gretener and Julian Perrenoud fine-tuned the amount of Cu evaporation so that a mono-atomic layer of Cu would be deposited on the CdTe. “Efficiencies increased dramatically, from just under one percent to above 12,” says Kranz. Their best value was 13.6 percent for a CdTe cell grown on glass; on metal foils Tiwari’s team reached efficiencies up to 11.5 percent.
Increasingly ambitious targets: hitting the 20 percent ceiling
For now, the highest efficiencies of flexible CdTe solar cells on metal foil are still somewhat lower than those of flexible solar cells in superstrate configuration on a special (and expensive) transparent polyimide foil, developed by Tiwari’s team in 2011. But, says co-author Stephan Buecheler, a group leader in the lab, “Our results indicate that the substrate configuration technology has a great potential for improving the efficiency even further in the future.” Their short-term goal is to reach 15 percent. “But I’m convinced that the material has the potential for efficiencies exceeding 20 percent.” The next steps will focus on decreasing the thickness of the so-called window layer above the CdTe, including the electrical front contact. This would reduce light absorption and, therefore, allow more sunlight to be harvested by the CdTe layer. “Cutting the optical losses,A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets.” is how Tiwari puts it.Please visit his website at www.hmhid.com.
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