>From the "half-baked" (but edible) department .... Hybrids are everywhere these days. Technology is merging, and borrowing, and looking for synergy. Solar energy too, is beginning to move in a surprising way due to "information technology" hybridization.
Fiber optic cable is not yet involved in solar energy, but change is in the wind. These cables consists of thin glass filaments which transmit lightwaves with low loss- thus carrying large amounts of data due to the naturally high frequency. BUT not much energy ... at least not normally. In fact, fiber optics cables are specifically designed so that electrical induction (EMI / RFI) is almost nonexistent -thus eliminating issues related to electronic noise in communications. But maybe we want the opposite - at least in some applications, noise can be your friend! Is this the way technology is pushing? Here is the first piece of the puzzle. http://news.ucsc.edu/2012/12/sun-to-fiber.html The reason emf could be now desirable (to the extent of being engineered into a device) instead of a no-no - is the emergence of solar-to-fiber techniques. If one couples solar irradiation to fibers efficiently, by turning a wide spectrum into semi-coherence, then we are moving into new territory in overall efficiency. If we can then use semi-coherent photons to induce current in a special secondary filament or coating - one that converts lightwaves to emf, then net efficiency should be higher than what is seen in practice with planar solar photocells. In fact, the end result would be a "linear photocell for semi-coherent light", which could have obvious advantages. Before you shake your head thinking that going from photons to emf via optic cable is being needlessly complicated in pursuit of unknown gains, it turns out that it has already been done - and some heavy hitters are onboard in Silicon valley. http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/the-smarter-grid/electricity-over-glass Back to the big picture. Solar installations are surging in the USA - even in a weak economy, even as tax breaks are dwindling. Increases of 40% year-to-year in added capacity is incredible but will level off when tax breaks are gone. However, we are only a breakthrough or two away from a scenario which could follow Moore's Law, if information technology gets involved in a big way, as it should. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/solar-installations-surge-on-lower -costs-and-government-support/ Imagine what would will happen when the average efficiency of solar goes up from about 17% today with rooftop solar cells - to 35% with "solar-to-cable-to-current" in a few years - and with better batteries to store it and better plug-in vehicles to use it. Technology could be pointing this way. All of which is not to diminish the overriding need for LENR, but the point is that efficient solar will likely be a bigger part of the energy mix than anyone suspects, and sooner than expected. Jones
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