Plastic Bags, Yahoo, MoveOn and Solar Panels
Posted on February 2, 2008 – 11:10 pm by admin
33 Cent Plastic Bag Tax Causes 94% Drop in Use
Reusable cloth shopping bags, like this one at a Superquinn grocery checkout in Dublin, have replaced those stretchy, crinkly plastic shopping bags, which are subject to a 33-cent tax per bag. Ireland introduces 33 cent plastic bag tax. 94% drop within weeks.
Yahoo needs Microsoft’s help
Now we know it wasn’t just a rumor all these months. Microsoft (MSFT) has been seriously thinking about swallowing up Yahoo (YHOO) since way back in 2006. In what would be by far its largest acquisition ever.
Microsoft and Yahoo: Perfect partners?
Certainly, a Microsoft and Yahoo joint search engine would in theory give Google some competition in the search and online ad business. But even a combined Yahoo and Microsoft search proposition would still be a long way behind Google.
The Nation: MoveOn Endorses Obama
The Nation is reporting that MoveOn will endorse Barack Obama, who got 70% of the votes in their online balloting.
80% Efficient Solar Panel?! Works at Night?!
The most expensive, carefully designed, and complicated solar panels in the world operate at about 40% efficiency. That means that, for every bit of sunlight that hits the panel, only 40% of it is turned into electricity.
One Response to “Plastic Bags, Yahoo, MoveOn and Solar Panels”
By Paul on Feb 3, 2008 | Reply
40 percent efficiency for a solar electric panel is phenomenal considering most photovoltaic panels on the market today are about 15% efficient (which is why they cost so much). On the other hand, solar thermal panels are around 70-80% efficient.
Also, the article states they are using nanotechnology to build these cells. Nanotechnologoy remains a bit of an enigma. On the one hand, it is great to see the things that can be made. However, what happens to all those tiny machines at the end of there useful life? There are some studies that show that they are a carcinogen because of the materials they are made of. Most manufacturers simply dump them into the waste stream, so now we will have trillions of microscopic machines made from cancer causing materials contaminating our environment.
Good deal.