Alternative Energy and Solar Power - Die Another Day

The glorious Sun

Stays in his course and plays the alchemist

Turning with splendour of his precious eye

The meager cloddy earth to glittering gold.

Shakespeare, King John, III, 1

It looks like I may have been a bit premature in my castigation of Apple not including Solar technology in their line-up of products this refresh around, as per their patent filings as per the implication of their patent filings as stated in the article “Apple eyes gadgets with built in Solar panels”, published January 22, 2010 7:46 AM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech and as further asserted in the article “Apple patent bid combines solar with touch screen”, published June 7, 2010 6:31 AM PDT by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech.

This is saying ta-ta to the electrical charger and “Ghost” or Vampire Power usually associated with consumer electronics, the need to leave chargers plugged in overnight being eliminated once and for all, albeit Telecom Provider AT&T has introduced a charger that eliminates “Ghost” or Vampire Power as stated in the article “AT&T to sell eco-friendly phone charger”, published March 17, 2010 1:52 PM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength.

Solar Power technology baked into electronic goodies would not only make us more Renewable Energy conscious, but it also helps Apple and other electronics companies have an alternative to the Universal Charger Standard in the EU (and possibly the rest of the World), now all the rage in EU markets as stated in the article “Apple, others agree to universal cell phone charger standard in Europe”, published June 29, 2009 11:22 AM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength.

This only addresses the connector to the phone, now a mini USB, but not to a standard on eliminating “Ghost” or Vampire Power or even the obvious lack of standardization of European electrical outlets, yet these European countries are a part of a Union, an issue the Americans may wish to poke their EU cousins with next time they conference with the Europeans over standards.

Other things need to be standardized, a favorite discussion of mine, but this is neither the time nor place, as such as blog article would be more than fifty (50) pages long. John Public, caught up in the furor of the Apple Fanboys and their racing heartbeat throng madly chasing Apple CEO Steve Jobs over the cliff like the lemmings they are, may have expected too much to be placed in this latest refresh and forgotten a fundamental problem: the pace of Electronics Research and thus the cost of the associated products, so high only Early Adopters would venture to spend cash.

John Public puts on his lab coat and analyzes this creature under the electron microscope of blog journalism, an issue so small that it has fallen through the cracks of mainstream blogs or journalism. The issue at hand?: Solar Power standardization in Electronics, akin to the ubiquitous prevalence and adoption of Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n), which has made every device a part of the Internet Cloud and always-connected future, Solar Power thus promising devices that are disconnected from their analog Power Utility Company past and always-on.

Basically, based on the drawings from Apple’s patent filings, they are trying to have the Solar panels integrated into both the skin of the device as well as the screen, thus implying transparency as well as even Power distribution problems. Flexibility issues may also be plaguing their design, as Solar panels for commercial photovoltaic applications for industrial and household usage are not known for their flexibility.

Thus news of sprayable Solar panels or easy- to-install spray on Solar films, which are as easy to install as painting a wall, albeit one must have concerns about toxicity as stated in the article “Spray-on films turns glass into Solar panels”, published August 19, 2010 1:09 PM PDT by Juniper Foo, CNET News - Crave.

This is following in the footsteps of Solexant as stated in the article “Solexant funded to print thin-film solar cells”, published June 4, 2010 8:50 AM PDT by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech are encouraging developments, as they would point the way towards incorporating Solar photovoltaic for low powered devices such as electronics by merely spray painting the devices with these compounds and their nano-particle Solar panels, provided that my concerns about toxicity can be addressed.

The possibly by having the paint and the troublesome antenna covered in a thick lacquer of hard plastic and the capacitive touch screen being made from Gorilla glass, the new wonder super-strong glass from Corning Glass, inventors of fiber optic as stated in the article “1962 glass could be Corning's next bonanza seller”, published Sunday August 1, 2:14 pm ET By BEN DOBBIN, AP Business Writer, Yahoo! News is very intriguing, as other electronics gadget manufacturers are doing likewise, the Dell Streak being one gadget that readily comes to mind.

Another company’s technology which Apple purchased lock stock and barrel, namely LiquidMetal, makers of an amorphous metallic compound normally the fine finishing line between tacky and uber-high class keepsake electronic gadgets, is up for consideration.

This could be easily machined into virtually all of Apple Product line along with a nice application of LiquidMetal as may be possible in the future as AP Technology writer Peter Svensson opines in his article “Apple takes gulp of strong, glossy Liquidmetal”, published Sunday August 8 2010, By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer, Yahoo! News.

This is the piece de resistance that would put Apple products into the high class category and thus worth buying at whatever price Apple wishes to price its products.

The cost of using LiquidMetal could be brought down by Apple finding a partner factory in the People’s Republic of China, as they have an abundance of Rare Earth Metals as stated in the article “China clean tech's rare-earth advantage”, published August 12, 2010 5:37 AM PDT by Reuters News Agency, CNET News - Green Tech.

Thus John Public, waxing philosophic, surmises that Solar Power built into electronic gadgets may not appear until about the Apple 2012 Refresh and not become standard in all electronics gadgets until 2013.

I personally support this move, as it would be in keeping with the venture capital money Senator Barack Obama, President of the United States of America is throwing behind Silicon Valley’s long forlorn step children, the Alternative Energy Sector, specifically Solar as stated in the article “Obama commits billions to solar firms”, published July 4, 2010 11:34 AM PDT by Reuters, CNET News - Green Tech.

Bio-Fuels alternatives to the taxation of corn-based ethanol as stated in the article “'Green' gas and Diesel get boost in Biofuel grants”, published December 4, 2009 12:33 PM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech and EV’s or All-Electric Vehicles, set to be all the rage in the Summer of 2011 as stated in the article “Obama: Clean Energy's Venture Capitalist-in-Chief”, published August 5, 2010, 5:00PM EST By Mike Dorning, POLITICS & POLICY, BusinessWeek.

The Alternative Energy Sector is so spanking new, that there are no competently trained staffs for this now booming Sector, with most of the Tech Heavyweights shipping their Production and Research facilities abroad to the People’s Republic of China as stated in the article “The Other U.S. Energy Crisis: Lack of R&D”, published June 17, 2010, 12:01AM EST by Peter Coy, POLITICS & POLICY, BusinessWeek.

This is also stated in a prior  article “America's Green innovation Problem”, published May 3, 2010, 4:41PM EST By Rob Atkinson and Devon Swezey, BusinessWeek - VIEWPOINT , leaving the United States of America in a Crisis of Production, Research and Technology, especially as it may be their ticket to weaning themselves of Foreign Imported Oil and lowering their Energy costs, thus bringing manufacturing jobs back home PERMANENTLY.

The Alternative Energy Sector is so spanking new that VC are ignoring Social Networking Venture Capital Start-ups and going after what appears to be sure money in the Alternative Energy Sector, the Obama Administration stamp of approval sure to bring a smile to Bill Gates face, himself a VC in this emerging potential future money-spinner, albeit the Tech Bubble question still haunts as stated in the article “Green Tech can't shake the bubble question”, published March 10, 2010 12:36 PM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech.

Until then, at least we have an agreement between Apple and other smart phone manufacturers such as LG, Motorola, Nokia, Research In Motion, Samsung and Sony Ericsson with regards to a common charger standard for EU markets, with chipset makers NEC, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments tagging along for the ride.

Possibly the technology in the charger being introduced by Telecom Provider AT&T that eliminates “Ghost” or Vampire Power as stated in the article “AT&T to sell eco-friendly phone charger”, published March 17, 2010 1:52 PM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength will become standard over time as well.

Guess I will just have to Die Another Day (2002), my inkling for the villain in the movie of the same name, a tribute to his Solar powered weapon, a similar design, which by the way, California’s Governor Arnold Schwartzennegger has approved for construction in space to supply California with Solar Power twenty four (24) hours a day as stated in the article “California gives green light for space-based Solar”, published December 3, 2009 2:03 PM PST, by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech.