Solar Energy Installations in US are Increasing Dramatically

A recent report by the Solar Energy Industries Association details the tremendous growth in the installation of grid-connected photovoltaics in the US in 2010.

In 2010, the U.S. installed 887 megawatts1 (MW) of grid-connected photovoltaics (PV), representing 104% growth over the 435 MW installed in 2009.

This trend continued into Q1 of 2011 and perhaps more importantly, prices which had seen increases in the last couple years have begun to decline.  With improvements in production as well as the efficiency of solar modules look for this pricing trend to continue.

U.S. module production increased by 17% relative to Q4 2010, from 297 MW to 348 MW. While production from export-oriented firms and facilities dipped materially on account of soft demand conditions in the key feed-in tariff markets of Germany and Italy, plants that serve the domestic market enjoyed far healthier utilization of manufacturing capacity.

After a year of flat-to-increasing pricing for some PV components in 2010, annual beginning-of- year feed-in tariff cuts and depressed global demand in Q1 2011 resulted in substantial price declines. Wafer and cell prices dropped by around 15% each, while module prices fell around 7%. 

Amazing Increases in Genome Sequencing Capabilities

Here is a really interesting article detailing a new project to sequence the genes of 5,000 insects.

About ten ago we finished the Human Genome project and that took almost a decade to complete. However, with the ever increasing and accelerating capabilities we are developing in genomics we can now undertake a much larger initiative and complete it in far less time for far less money.


This is another example of how the acceleration in technology. In the not too distant future we will have the genomes of all species completed and the learnings from this will allow us to lead longer, healthier lives and to have a much smaller footprint on our planet.

The Human Genome Project was a $3.8 billion undertaking that has so far yielded over $800 billion in economic output. The 5,000 Insect Genome Project (i5k), an initiative that aims to sequence the genomes of 5,000 insects and arthropods over the next five years, could reap similar rewards--but for a fraction of the price.

The initiative's launch group, which includes researchers from the USDA, the European Bioinformatics Institute and Kansas State University, believes that it can sequence all 5,000 genomes for $5 million (and handle bioinformatics and data mining for another $10 million). This is just a fraction of the million or so insect species in existence, of course, but DNA sequencing costs are dropping constantly--so a goal of 5,000 insects is just the start, according to American Entemologist.

What might we look forward to in a world where insect genomes have been decoded?

• Better pesticides. Researchers can use sequencing information, computational analysis, and bioinformatics to figure out what changes in the genome make insect species resistant to certain pesticides. By mining data for the genes involved with detoxifying chemicals that make their way inside insects, for example, researchers could figure out how to target them. Researchers could also figure out how insect immune systems change in response to the use of biopesticides. We can already hearMonsanto salivating.

• Protection for more vulnerable species. The same data about those detoxifying genes could be used to protect honeybees (which don't have as many detox genes to begin with) from being affected by pesticides--and that could help prevent our entire food system from crashing down.

• Preventing the spread of insect-borne diseases. Plant, animal, and microbe genomes are already being sequenced. By adding insects to the mix, scientists can better understand the relationships between host, insect, and pathogen--and potentially stop disease transmission. "So if you think about mosquitoes, we currently have three genomes of mosquitoes that are vectors of malaria and other diseases. But there are other very similar, related mosquitoes that do not act as vectors, so we want to sequence non-vector species as well so we can determine what makes an arthropod a vector or not a vector," explained Daniel Lawson, a coordinator at the European Bioinformatics Institute in an interview with American Entemologist.

• Development of detection devices for biodefense. If scientists can replicate insects' sharp sensory receptors, we could see all sorts of DARPA-like nanotech military spy cameras.

End of AIDS is Possible

At a recent UN conference  the discussion was not about treating AIDS but instead about ending it.

At the start of a high-level U.N. conference on the global AIDS response, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the international community had gathered not to fight the disease, but to end it. Citing progress over the last 30 years since HIV and AIDS were first discovered, Ban said the goal now is to end the disease within the next 10 years.

The reason for this hope is a recent trial called HPTN052 that showed that people who controlled the virus with medication do not transmit it to their partners.

From a recent Economist article:

What HPTN052 shows is that the drug treatment used to prolong the lives of those infected with HIV, by stopping the virus reproducing in their bodies, can also stop the virus’s transmission.

As can be seen in the above deaths from AIDS peaked a few years ago and our on the decline. If medicine can be given to more people it will be possible to wipe out this plague. It has been shown that people on ADIS drugs do not infect their partners - therefore for a relatively low cost if we can get medicine to those infected we can stop this disease from killing millions per year and orphaning millions of children.

Worldwide Internet Usage

In just over a decade the world has added about 1.7 Billion Internet users - going from 360M users at the end of 2000 to almost 2.1B users by the end of March.

From Internet World Stats

Africa which had only 4.5M Internet users at the end of the year 2000 now has 118M users. With recent undersea cables connecting Southern Africa with Western Africa and Europe this trend is set to continue.

By the end of this decade, Africa will easily outpace North America in total number of Internet users.

China's Population is stabilizing and aging

One worry of the doom & gloom crowd is the seemingly unending growth in the world's population.  However, the actual numbers do not show this to be the case. We are moving towards a world where yearly population increases are becoming smaller and smaller. Eventually, around 2050 perhaps, the population of the world will begin to decrease.

Already, many of the more developed countries of the world (Germany & Japan for example) actually have populations that are decreasing.

Recently, China announced the results of their 2010 census. At first glance the numbers seem staggering. The government said China’s population was 1.34 billion, an increase of 73.9 million, or 5.8 percent, from the last tally in 2000. However, when you compare this to the previous decade, things look much different. Between 1990 - 2000, China added 130 million people. So the increase in population actually declined by 56 million from the previous decade.

• 1990 - 2000 - China's population increase was 130 Million
• 2000 - 2010 - China's population increase was 74 Million

So, although China has a huge population its growth rate is slowing dramatically and within the next couple of decades it will stabilize and then begin to fall.  China's  population is also aging rapidly:

Data from the census showed that population in the age group of 0-14 accounted for 16.60 percent of the total population, down by 6.29 percentage points as compared with 2000 population census; population in the age group of 60 and over accounted for 13.26 percent, up by 2.93 percentage points, of which population in the age group of 65 and over accounted for 8.87 percent, up by 1.91percentage points as compared with the 2000 population census. 

The working age population of China will begin to decline in a few years. A recent Wall St Journal article states:

Many analysts predict that China's vast labor force will begin declining in the next year or two, the result of family-planning policies. Others say there's already a shortage of the most active members of the factory floor, workers aged 15 to 34. That group has been steadily declining since 2007, according to Jun Ma, Deutsche Bank's chief economist for Greater China.

Good Economic Growth in Africa

Africa has - for the last few decades - been the one spot that pessimists could point to and say, "Sure, growth is good in Asia, Latin America etc.. but what about Africa? However, in recent years Africa has begun to dig itself out of the huge hole it is still in. Over the next few months, I will try to include other posts about Africa and the progress that is being made there.

The UN's Report - Economic Report on Africa - 2011 shows that African economies have been growing rapidly this past decade.

African economies are expected to continue strengthening and broadening their economic performance in 2011, as the continent’s GDP growth accelerates from 4.7 per cent in 2010 to 5 per cent in 2011 (figure 2.8). This upturn reflects a strong economic performance in those oil-exporting and oil-importing countries that will benefit from the growth factors discussed above. It is expected that GDP growth for oil-exporting countries will climb from 5.2 per cent in 2010 to 5.4 per cent in 2011, and that for oil-importing countries from 4.0 per cent to 4.6 per cent. Continued investment in infrastructure and in the production of metals and minerals for export is expected to underpin economic growth in some oil- importing countries.