IBM solves global warming... maybeHunger and energy crises averted in single day?By Ambrose McNevin: Friday, 16 May 2008, 5:04 PMBIG BLUE today announced that using a large lens to concentrate the sun’s power, it captured a record 230 watts onto a centimeter square solar cell, in a technology known as concentrator photovoltaics or CPV.The IBM research team developed a system that achieved breakthrough results by coupling a commercial solar cell to an advanced IBM liquid metal thermal cooling system using methods developed for the microprocessor industry.That energy is then converted into 70 watts of usable electricalpower, about five times the electrical power density generated by typicalcells using CPV technology in solar farms.If it can overcome additional challenges to move this project from the labto the fab, IBM believes it can significantly reduce the cost of a typicalCPV based solar energy system.
