February 2007 | The Global Intelligencer

Going Solar: hot technology cools energy costs

by Cate Montana

In 1978, John Schaeffer, founder and CEO of Real Goods, sold and installed the first residential photovoltaic power system in the United States. It was an off-the-grid 12 volt, DC (direct current) system that ran at an 8% conversion efficiency and, because of the cost of the system, produced electricity at around $500 per watt.

Today the same single-cell, crystalline silicon based photovoltaic (PV) system, averages between 16-20% efficiency and has dropped to nearly 1/100 th of the price. A 2-kilowatt system that meets nearly all the needs of a very energy efficient home costs around $20,000 installed, or $10 per watt. At the high end, a 5 kilowatt system that completely meets the energy needs of most conventional homes can cost $30,000 to $40,000 installed, or $6 to $8 per watt. These prices are rough estimates and the actual costs depend on the system configuration, types of equipment and other variables. All the same, for the average consumer solar still packs a punch when it comes to sticker price.

Imagine a world without AIDS

The coming of age of Peptide T

by Candace Pert, Ph.D.

Almost fifteen years ago I gave a presentation to my son’s elementary school about Dr. Michael Ruff’s and my discovery of peptide T and its application as an AIDS treatment. The presentation was prompted by my son Brandon’s brag to his friends, “My mother’s found the cure for AIDS.” Cringing over this announcement and a nine-year-old’s vision, I complied with the teacher’s request to come explain our NIH (National Institutes of Health) research to his fifth graders.

Kurt Vonnegut once said that the most complicated idea in the world - if you truly understand it yourself - should be easily explained to an eleven year old. Back then I didn’t really understand how the AIDS virus worked—but it was still the early years of the epidemic, before the term global pandemic was being used to describe AIDS. It was also before scientists had fully worked out how the viruses get into cells, and less than a decade since the virus that causes it had been isolated by American and French scientists.