A quick flick through the June-July E&T magazine from the IET…
Professor Michael Grätzel, creator of dye-sensitised solar cells, has won the 2010 Millennium Technology Grand Prize, awarded by Technology Academy Finland. [...] Though Grätzel cells are still in relatively early stages of development, they show great promise as an inexpensive alternative to costly silicon solar cells and as an attractive candidate as a new renewable energy source, the judges said. [...] In 2010 the total amount of the prizes is £1.1m, of which £1m comes from the Finnish state and £100,000 from Technology Academy Finland.
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Renault has adopted the Better Place system to sell a 160km-range vehicle for roughly the same price as an equivalent diesel car: the purchase price does not need to include the battery because that will be rented to the consumer. [...] The boot is also smaller – at 300 litres it is about the same size as the smaller Clio and about 60 per cent the capacity of the conventional Fluence. The car weighs a total of 300kg more than the diesel-driven model. [...] A Renault spokesman said the cost of ownership will be similar to that of a diesel-engine model once the rental and government subsidies for low-emissions vehicles are taken into account.
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Green subsidies are influencing the pick up of investment interest, and not just in photonics says Magill. ‘Government subsidies are driving investment in a lot of cleantech and green technologies. In fact many privately held companies, small venture-backed and their investors – the venture firms themselves – are hiring consultants to understand how best to get at those government subsidies and incentives.’
However, these subsidies do not appeal to everyone. ‘We stay away from sectors or companies that depend on such tariffs because we know they change with the mood of the politicians. I don’t want to be dependent on that,’ says Sperling.