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This article was first published on sister site Green Building Elements.

A novel, transparent, two-layer solar film ? possessing an impressive efficiency conversion of 7.3% ? has been created by researchers at the University of California?Los Angeles. This is about double the transparent solar cell efficiency the researchers had previously achieved.?The solar film can be placed on windows, buildings, sunroofs, electronics displays, etc; harvesting energy while still at the same time allowing light to pass through and visibility/transparency to be maintained.

The new solar film is essentially an improved form of the??breakthrough photovoltaic cell design? that the same researchers unveiled last year?? an improved form with nearly double the efficiency, that is. It consists of two thin polymer solar cells that work together to maximize sunlight collection and conversion to electricity ? the two cells absorb more light than single-layer solar devices do because together they absorb light from a wider part of the solar spectrum. There?s also a thin layer of ?novel materials? present between the two cells that works to reduce energy loss.

?New solar cells. UCLA researchers have developed photovoltaic cells with twice the energy harvesting capacity of cells developed in 2012. The cells, which can be processed to be transparent or in shades ranging from light green to brown, could be used to make building windows, smartphone screens, car sunroofs and other surfaces into sources of sustainable energy.?
Image Credit: Solar Cell, Yang Yang, 2013

The University of California?Los Angeles has more:

The tandem polymer solar cells are made of a photoactive plastic. A single-cell device absorbs only about 40% of the infrared light that passes through. The tandem device ? which includes a cell composed of a new infrared-sensitive polymer developed by UCLA researchers ? absorbs up to 80% of infrared light plus a small amount of visible light.

While a tandem-structure transparent organic photovoltaic (TOPV) device developed at UCLA in 2012 converts about 4% of the energy it receives from the sun into electric power, the new tandem device ? which uses a combination of transparent and semi-transparent cells ? achieves a conversion rate of 7.3%.

Researchers say that the new cells could serve as a power-generating layer on windows and smartphone displays without compromising users? ability to see through the surface. The cells can be produced so that they appear light gray, green or brown, and so can blend with the color and design features of buildings and surfaces.

?Using two solar cells with the new interfacial materials in between produces close to two times the energy we originally observed,? stated Yang Yang, the Carol and Lawrence E. Tannas, Jr, Professor of Engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. ?We anticipate this device will offer new directions for solar cells, including the creation of solar windows on homes and office buildings.?

The researchers also note that, thanks to the fact that the materials involved can be processed at low temperatures, they are relatively easy to manufacture, as compared to most other solar cell designs. A fact that should help to keep the cost of producing them relatively low.

It all sounds pretty good. This sort of solar cell sounds like a good fit for dense urban areas, where economy of space is an important factor in decisions concerning solar energy. And as we?ve reported before, solar-skinned buildings are becoming increasingly common and should continue to do so well into the future ? leaving lots of room for new transparent solar cell designs.

The new research was funded primarily by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Office of Naval Research, and EFL Tech.?The new research was published online July 26th in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Energy & Environmental Science.

Tags: see-through solar cells, see-through solar film, Solar Cells, tandem-structure transparent organic photovoltaic, TOPV solar energy, transparent solar cells, Transparent solar film, UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, UCLA transparent solar cells doubled efficiency

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Nathan For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity. - Ecclesiastes 3:19

Source: http://cleantechnica.com/2013/07/30/transparent-solar-cells-efficiency/

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Beverly Hills Cop IV in Development Again

EXCLUSIVE: Though it recently looked like the Beverly Hills Cop saga would continue on television, Paramount Pictures has begun moving fast on another movie. The studio has enlisted Eddie Murphy to reprise his role as Axel Foley, and they?ve set Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec to write that script. That duo has done very well at the studio, with recent script credits that include Mission: Impossible?Ghost Protocol and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remake.

Related: SHOCKER: ?Beverly Hills Cop? Gets Pass At CBS, Likely To Be Shopped Elsewhere

The series began in 1984, tailor made for Murphy as the tough talking Detroit cop who was an outsider and excoriated by authority, but who was the smartest cop on the block. Martin Brest directed the first one, Tony Scott helmed the second, and the last one was directed by John Landis in 1994, back when Murphy was one of the studio?s biggest stars. The series grossed near $750 million collectively. Paramount adds that to another retro project that originated in the ?80s, a sequel to 1986?s Top Gun, which has been in limbo since the film?s director, Scott, committed suicide. Tom Cruise was ready to star at that point.

We hear the newest installment in the film franchise was fueled by the interest sparked by the Beverly Hills Cop pilot this past season. The project, written by Shawn Ryan and executive produced by Murphy and Ryan, ignited a bidding war before landing at CBS last fall where it went to a pilot starring Brandon T. Jackson as Axel?s son. Murphy reprised his role in a scene-stealing turn that had people talking. It showed that the character and Murphy?s portrayal are still pretty potent. The pilot was produced by Sony Pictures TV, with Paramount, as rights holder, coming on board after the pilot green light for what the company billed as its re-entry into television. (Paramount is restarting a TV production operation.) For whatever reason, Paramount-CBS politics or pilot testing depending who you ask, the project shockingly did not go to series. But it drew enough attention to the franchise to spawn a new movie.

Appelbaum, Nemec and Murphy are all repped by WME.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1927984/news/1927984/

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Overstock.com CEO Explains Anti-SAC Ad - Business Insider

Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne colorfully explained in his own words why he took out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal mocking SAC Capital's Steve Cohen Saturday.

"Cohen's life work is being destroyed," he wrote in a note to Business Insider, "I feel good.?Shooting SAC Capital dead and throwing all of its employees into the streets is simply civilization scraping some dog--- off its shoe. ?I felt it was time I spent $100k on a derisive ad in order to say that."

A Federal Grand Jury indicted SAC Capital on charges of insider trading this week after years of investigation.

Meanwhile, since 2005 Byrne has been saying that powerful market actors have been working to destroy his company. In 2010 he identified them as Michael Milken and SAC's Steven Cohen.

Two years later, emails accidentally leaked by lawyers representing a number of Wall Street banks described how the banks were allegedly naked short-selling Overstock.com stock and advising their hedge fund clients on how to do the same.

SAC Capital, as you know, is one massive hedge fund client.

"Eight?years ago I was roundly criticized by coming out publicly and saying, in brief: A network of dirty hedge funds were practicing all kinds of dicey practices, including insider trading and naked short selling (and being serial killers of firms in the process)," Byrne wrote. "The SEC was not doing its job protecting our markets because it is a captured regulator, and this combination was destabilizing the system."

He continued: "Also that the mastermind, the Napoleon of crime, so to speak, was someone I initially identified as the "Sith Lord" of all that was evil and wrong on Wall Street. In the months after, I gradually dropped broader and broader public hints that I was talking about Stevie Cohen. Of course, through all of this my claims were spun,?ridiculed, and mocked."

If the documents leaked by bank lawyers are any indication, Overstock was not only being ridiculed by the media, but also by insiders at Wall Street banks. Naked short selling (or "failing" a stock) is the practice of shorting a stock that has never actually been borrowed. It's illegal, in part, because it creates fake supply of a stock, and in 2005 and 2006 Overstock.com claims naked short-selling created six times the actual supply of its stock in the market.

Someone might choose to naked short sell a stock when the stock is a?negative rebate stock ? too expensive to borrow. That's why it sounded so damning when the emails leaked from banks said things like this:

"We are NOT borrowing negatives... I have made that clear from the beginning. Why would we want to borrow them? We want to fail them," said one Merrill exec.

Now that you're clear on that, this portion of Byrne's note will make more sense (emphasis ours):

"Cohen is directly responsible for corruption in our capital markets that has cost hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people, their jobs," he said. "Now SAC has been indicted, and Cohen's life work is being destroyed, I feel good: Shooting SAC Capital dead and throwing all of its employees into the streets is simply civilization scraping some dogs--- off its shoe.?I felt it was time I spent $100k on a derisive ad in order to say that."

"Besides," Byrne added, "if you're not going to kick a man when he's down, when?are?you going to kick him?"

So that explains that, then.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/overstockcom-ceo-explains-anti-sac-ad-2013-7

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Woman wins $18.6 million for two-year battle over credit report

credit-and-debt

The Associated Press Staff

3 hours ago

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A federal jury in Oregon has awarded $18.6 million to a woman who spent two years unsuccessfully trying to get Equifax Information Services to fix major mistakes on her credit report.

Julie Miller of Marion County was awarded $18.4 million in punitive damages and $180,000 in compensatory damages, though Friday's award against one of the nation's major credit bureaus is likely to be appealed, The Oregonian reported.

The jury was told she contacted Equifax eight times between 2009 and 2011 in an effort to correct inaccuracies, including erroneous accounts and collection attempts, as well as a wrong Social Security number and birthday. Her lawsuit alleged the Atlanta-based company failed to correct the mistakes.

"There was damage to her reputation, a breach of her privacy and the lost opportunity to seek credit," said Justin Baxter, a Portland attorney who worked on the case with his father and law partner, Michael Baxter. "She has a brother who is disabled and who can't get credit on his own, and she wasn't able to help him."

Tim Klein, an Equifax spokesman, declined to comment on specifics of the case, saying he didn't have any details about the decision from the Oregon Federal District Court.

Miller discovered the problem when she was denied credit by a bank in early December 2009. She alerted Equifax and filled out multiple forms faxed by the credit agency seeking updated information. She had found similar mistakes in her reports with other credit bureaus, Baxter said, but those companies corrected their errors.

A Federal Trade Commission study earlier this year of 1,001 consumers who reviewed 2,968 of their credit reports found 21 percent contained errors. The survey found that 5 percent of the errors represented issues that would lead consumers to be denied credit.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663286/s/2f3d72f9/sc/8/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Cwoman0Ewins0E180E60Emillion0Etwo0Eyear0Ebattle0Eover0Ecredit0E6C10A772195/story01.htm

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Bradley Manning trial: Leakers Julian Assange and Daniel Ellsberg weigh in

Bradley Manning is a patriot responsible for 'the most influential leak in history,' WikiLeaks' Assange argues. Ellsberg warns the trial has grave consequences for democracy and journalism.

By Anna Mulrine,?Staff writer / July 26, 2013

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse at Fort Mead, Md, Thursday. Charged with indirectly aiding the enemy by sending troves of classified material to WikiLeaks, Manning faces up to life in prison.

Cliff Owen/AP

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The outcome of the Pfc. Bradley Manning trial has broad and grave consequences for America as a democracy, warns Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the classified Vietnam-era Pentagon Papers some 40 years ago, exposing widespread governmental misconduct.

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Mr. Manning, the Army intelligence analyst who released some 700,000 classified documents online, is charged with violating the Espionage Act and aiding the enemy and could face life in prison.

In a conference call with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Friday afternoon, Mr. Ellsberg pointed out that President Obama has charged twice as many people under the Espionage Act as all previous presidents.

Yet Manning, rather than someone interested in aiding America?s enemies, is a patriot responsible for ?without a doubt the most influential leak in history,? Mr. Assange argues.?

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki cited documents given by Manning to WikiLeaks in his decision not to renew a Status of Forces Agreement with the US military, which in turn led to the formal end of the Iraq War, Assange noted.?

According to Amnesty International, the leaks were one of the leading factors in triggering protests that led to the Arab Spring, he added.

Mr. Ellsberg also reiterated warnings about the chilling impact the Manning trial could have on journalism and the interpretation of the First Amendment protecting freedom of the press.

?If the ?aiding the enemy? charge is permitted to stand, this case will forever change the ability of journalists to reveal the most important crimes of the state,? and, in so doing, to change the course of US foreign policy with which the public might disagree.

That?s because the US government is increasingly naming journalists as co-conspirators in whistle-blowing cases, Assange argues, which in turn has the effect of embroiling journalists in prosecutions that could potentially carry the death penalty.?

?It directly connects journalists and publishers into the Obama administration?s new attempt to define journalism about national security as conspiracy to commit espionage.??

If Manning is found guilty of aiding the enemy ?it will be the end of national security journalism in the US,? he adds, ?at a time it is needed the most.??

The US government?s disregard for the press has been evident in its treatment of journalists covering the Manning trial, Ellsberg said further, noting that armed US troops have been patrolling the courtroom.

In a Twitter feed Thursday, New York Times reporter Charlie Savage wrote, ?Creepy having armed MPs [military police] in camo [camouflage] patrolling behind each row of reporters and looking over shoulders as we take notes on Manning trial.??

Ellsberg and Assange pushed back, too, against the picture painted by US government prosecutors of Manning as an attention-seeker interested in basking in the glory of his WikiLeaks revelations.

To make their case that he was hungry for glory rather than an intelligence analyst with a conscience, the prosecution, for example, cited a note from Manning to a colleague in which he wrote, ?If you had unprecedented access to classified networks, 14 hours a day, seven days a week ? for eight plus months ? what would you do?

Yet defense attorney David Coombs argued that prosecutors intentionally left out far more relevant writings from Manning, in particular one in which he asked the same colleague, ?Hypothetical question: If you had free reign over classified networks over a long period of time ? if you saw incredible things, horrible things, things that belonged in the public domain and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington, D.C. ? what would you do??

Given this reasoning, Manning is a ?hero,? Ellsberg says. ?He doesn?t owe a debt to society, in my opinion. Society owes a debt to him.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/XX-6cleoSLM/Bradley-Manning-trial-Leakers-Julian-Assange-and-Daniel-Ellsberg-weigh-in

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NCAA requests that Paterno family lawsuit be dismissed

From our ?no kidding? file, we bring you the following.

In a release, the NCAA has requested the lawsuit filed by the?estate of Joe Paterno and others in late May be dismissed ?due to a lack of legal standing, a failure to add necessary defendants, and various significant legal deficiencies.? The request comes a year to the day after?NCAA president Mark Emmert was given unprecedented authority to?levy numerous sanctions against Penn State?in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the Freeh Report which followed.

You can read more of the NCAA?s request HERE.

The Paterno family?s lawsuit claims, among other things, that Emmert and the NCAA essentially?forced Penn State?s hand into signing a consent decree for sanctioning based on the Freeh Report. By doing so, the plaintiffs believe the NCAA failed to follow its own rules. The Association, as one would expect, objects to that line of thought.

?Penn State leaders determined the consent decree was the best course for the university and its community to put the devastating Sandusky affair behind them,? Donald Remy, the NCAA?s?Chief Legal Officer, writes.?Those who continue to challenge Penn State?s right to make that decision only prolong the pain and delay the recovery.?

A judge already dismissed a case filed by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett?which?asked for the NCAA sanctions to be overturned. While the Paterno family suit seeks some similar results, it?s nearly impossible to tell if it will wind up with the same fate as Corbett?s suit.

Source: http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/07/23/ncaa-requests-that-paterno-family-lawsuit-be-dismissed/

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Eagan: Tom Brady should follow coach?s lead

When a man is murdered ? and your superstar tight end is charged with the killing ? business as ?usual is out the window.

Bill Belichick showed he understood that yesterday. The coach who?s become a caricature of brusque, monosyllabic obnoxiousness spoke with what seemed like genuine pain and sadness.

?A young man lost his life and his family suffered a tragic loss and there?s no way to understand that,? he told reporters.

Today, Tom Brady will be on the firing line in Foxboro.

In his only statement so far on the slaying of Odin Lloyd and the arrest of Aaron Hernandez, Brady told Sports Illustrated?s Peter King, ?I?m focusing on the great teammates I have who are committed to helping us win games. The only thing I care about is winning. Nothing is going to ever get in the way of that goal.?

The superstar quarterback said he?s ?moved on? from the Hernandez mess.

Well, he can?t.

Not yet.

When Brady and his fellow team captains face the media today ? the first time they?ll be pressed on the Hernandez case ? they should follow Belichick?s lead. Forget football. Forget who?ll replace Hernandez in the team?s quest for another Super Bowl championship.

Hernandez is under investigation not just for one murder, but three. And in new court documents, Hernandez?s friend Carlos Ortiz ? arrested, too, in connection with Lloyd?s murder ? said Hernandez?s Franklin ?flop house? was a favorite stomping ground for other football players.

The line to date is that Hernandez did not socialize with other Patriots. So were those football players Hernandez?s teammates from high school or college? Semi-pro players from Lloyd?s Boston team? Or a Patriot player, or two, who have since distanced themselves from the man now under investigation for the murder of two young Cape Verdeans last year in Boston?s South End?

These are questions that are likely to be fired at Brady and his fellow Patriots captains this morning.

I hope Tom Brady ? known as much for his nice-guy charm as Belichick is for his glum demeanor ? figures out that the football boilerplate he gave to Peter King won?t cut it at today?s press conference.

Surprisingly, unexpectedly, defying nearly all prognosticators, the sour and sullen Bill Belichick set the bar for leadership yesterday.

Tom Brady needs to meet it.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bostonherald/sports/football/patriots/~3/O8GNNTuozhg/eagan_tom_brady_should_follow_coach_s_lead

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