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High efficiency gas fires, especially balanced flue fires are the most efficient option for customers wanting heat and a high home efficiency rating, while electric fires are more efficient for customers who just want a visual focal point.

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Boeing today announced that Spectrolab, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary, has achieved a new world record in terrestrial concentrator solar cell efficiency. Using concentrated sunlight, Spectrolab demonstrated the ability of a photovoltaic cell to convert 40.7 percent of the sun's energy into electricity. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., verified the milestone.

"This solar cell performance is the highest efficiency level any photovoltaic device has ever achieved," said Dr. David Lillington, president of Spectrolab. "The terrestrial cell we have developed uses the same technology base as our space-based cells. So, once qualified, they can be manufactured in very high volumes with minimal impact to production flow."

High efficiency multijunction cells have a significant advantage over conventional silicon cells in concentrator systems because fewer solar cells are required to achieve the same power output. This technology will continue to dramatically reduce the cost of generating electricity from solar energy as well as the cost of materials used in high-power space satellites and terrestrial applications.

"These results are particularly encouraging since they were achieved using a new class of metamorphic semiconductor materials, allowing much greater freedom in multijunction cell design for optimal conversion of the solar spectrum," said Dr. Richard R. King, principal investigator of the high efficiency solar cell research and development effort. "The excellent performance of these materials hints at still higher efficiency in future solar cells."

Spectrolab is reducing the cost of solar cell production through research investments and is working with several domestic and international solar concentrator manufacturers on clean, renewable solar energy solutions. Currently, Spectrolab's terrestrial concentrator cells are generating power in a 33-kilowatt full-scale concentrator system in the Australian desert. The company recently signed multi-million dollar contracts for its high efficiency concentrator cells and is anticipating several new contracts in the next few months.

Development of the high-efficiency concentrator cell technology was funded by the NREL's High Performance Photovoltaics program and Spectrolab.

source: Boeing

The U.S. federal National Renewable Energy Laboratory offers a renewable energy program that studies and disseminates news on the latest in energy efficient building technologies. Recognizing that construction designed around energy efficiency is crucial to growing the countries energy independence, these renewable energy programs research as well as train U.S. residents. They work closely with manufacturers and others in the construction and building industry, promote renewable energy endeavours and provide information to both consumers and builders about the financial savings involved in renewable energy. NREL also works with state and municipal regulatory agencies to improve their building regulations and codes and their energy standards for appliances.

This NREL Building Technologies Program supports renewable energy research and development, helping it stay focused on areas such as materials for switch able window technology, thermodynamics, building heat transfer, and engineering of renewable energy heat and cooling systems. The engineers and research scientist of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory work closely with the industry, testing and evaluating new designs for buildings, new technology and new energy-efficient equipment for both commercial and residential structures.

The primary focus of the NREL building technologies program is the improvement of residential dwellings, commercial structures, the equipment and other components of such buildings, the energy involved in heating and cooling each and delivering the requisite water, the tools to analyze energy consumption, green energy manufacturing, and energy-efficient appliance and lighting standards. Key to these missions are such NREL initiatives as its Zero Energy building program, its initiative for Solid State Lighting, and its Electro chromic Window project. An initiative called Building America is another important offshoot of the renewable energy focus of the building technologies program. NREL also collaborates with a similar building technologies initiative of the federal Department of Energy. This is administered by the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office.

Distributed energy is another facet of NREL initiatives. This can be used for power to our base loads, during peak time hours, as backup power, as remote power and for heating and cooling. Renewable distributed energy refers to the many small and modular technologies to generate power that work in combination with storage systems and energy management to advance the efficiency and improve the overall operation of our electricity delivery, whether connected to an electrical grid or not.

NRELs Distributed Energy Program supports renewable energy by researching various technologies that are thermally activated. It also develops the EERE program, including its Web site and other communications. NREL collaborates as well with the non-profit technology transfer associations and organizations developed throughout the various states.

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The World Bank Group is focusing its efforts on four fronts.Helping developing countries to move to a lower carbon path by exploiting renewable energy resources, supporting energy conservation, and increasing efficiency. The share of renewable energy and energy

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There is a big debate out there on how much energy consumption that our nation can reduce through technology and conservation. If we concentrate on efficiency one recent report suggest that we can reduce our energy usage by up to 35%, yet the Environmental Protection Agency disagrees, stating in a recent report that the United States of America can save 50% of its energy consumption by 2025 or before.

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