[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 809]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNITION OF SOLAR TECHNOLOGIES

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JAY INSLEE

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 27, 2010

  Mr. INSLEE. Madam Speaker, there have been times in history where 
great technological challenges have been overcome by the combined 
efforts from both government policy and scientific innovation. We are 
sitting at one of those critical junctions today. Our country is taking 
active steps to curb our energy consumption by implementing energy 
efficiency policies and is also highly engaged in scientific innovation 
to make renewable technologies, such as solar, a sustainable part of 
our total energy portfolio. I am here today to discuss several 
promising technological advancements in solar systems that might one 
day help reduce our country's dependence on foreign energy sources.
  As we know, solar technologies come in several flavors. Some systems 
such as solar photovoltaic convert the sun's energy directly into 
useable electricity. Other technologies such as solar-thermal systems 
use the sun's energy to boil water that then turns a steam turbine 
which ultimately generates electricity.
  Development of solar photovoltaic systems has relied on manufacturing 
processes developed in the microelectronics industry, which has relied 
heavily on silicon as the main material component. These manufacturing 
methods can be slow and they yield relatively expensive solar cells. 
Through technological advancements in material science, new materials 
such as copper-indium-selenide (CIS) or copper-indium-gallium-selenide 
(CIGS) have resulted in low-cost solar cells. Solar cells made with 
these materials can even be printed much like you would print a 
document with your ink-jet printer at home.
  While CIS/CIGS photovoltaic advancements are driving manufacturing 
costs down, further advancements in silicon solar cells are also 
progressing. Advancements have been possible through new techniques 
used in nanotechnology labs across the country. The new generation of 
solar cells, instead of being constructed of flat layers of material on 
a silicon wafer, may end up looking more like microscopic cities. These 
``3D'' solar cells are showing promise as they may be able to better 
absorb the sun's energy and convert it to usable electricity.
  Great things are happening in the solar photovoltaic world, but 
important advancements in the solar thermal world are also taking 
place. Recently concerns about the amount of water used in generation 
of electricity with solar-thermal power plants were raised; these 
concerns can be misleading as similar amounts of cool water are needed 
for coal or natural gas power plants. Regardless the solar-thermal 
industry has responded with an innovative dry-cooling process which 
could reduce the water consumed to almost nothing.
  There are some that want a silver bullet to lay to rest our country's 
issues with foreign energy sources. While no such bullet exists, we can 
make real progress by encouraging development in all these promising 
technologies in parallel. Doing so can help States, like Washington 
State, achieve goals outlined in their renewable portfolio standards. 
On a larger scale we can move our entire country towards a clean energy 
source.
  I hope that my colleagues here in Congress will help me in moving 
relevant bills swiftly through our legislative process.

                          ____________________