The ever-increasing bounty of agriculture has been with us as long as I can remember, but it may have finally hit the dreaded Peak, according to a new study published in CropScience by Robert Graybosch, a geneticist at the University of Nebraska and James Patterson, a geneticist at Oregon State University.

Genetic improvements have increased wheat yields about 1% each year since the late ’50s. But in 1984, several scientists noticed that the average yield improvement seemed to have slowed, in a sign that genetic gain was plateauing.

Graybosch and Patterson then went back in and made a more detailed study, carefully analyzing the last 50 years of data collected by the Department of Agriculture. They found that ever since the early ’80s, genetic gain has continued to steadily drop. And now it appears to have come to a halt.

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August 25,2010 –

<img class=”" id=”/etc/medialib/new-lib/pvworld/online-articles/2010/08#Par.26534.Image ” height=”50″ alt=”Researchers from Germany’s ZSW have developed a thin-film solar cell with +20% efficiency, bettering their own record. The CIGS photovolt…….

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Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have discovered that cleanliness is next to cheapliness. They have developed a simple one-step method, based on wax and soap, that will enable researchers to develop a wide variety low-cost materials for use in lithium-ion batteries.

The high price of lithium-ion batteries is a big roadblock to mass commercialization of electric vehicles, so any success in bringing down costs at the research and development end could have a significant impact on the consumer market and help the way for introducing electric fleets into more businesses.

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July 30,2010 –

First Solar dipped its profitability outlook slightly, something investors seem not to like — but it made a bigger step in reducing cost/W (now at $0.76), and its near-term shift from systems to modules could pay off in 2011.

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July 28,2010 –

Ucilia Wang says that, if the rise of the solar energy market is written as a fantasy novel, then the makers of copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) are members of a mythical clan from far far away that are reputed to be fierce warriors gather…….

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July 28,2010 –

Joseph McCabe, solar industry veteran, often gets the question, “which CIGS company is going to emerge as winner in the race towards high efficiency thin film PVs?” First Solar has set the benchmarks, and newer companies are coming …….

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July 2,2010 –

What is being billed as one of the world’s largest solar power plants is about to start construction in Thailand, with support from Sharp and Mitsubishi.

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June 23,2010 –

Researchers from Japan say they have developed a new technology for analyzing characteristics of amorphous silicon (a-Si) films for thin-film PV panels.

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May 11,2010 –

Recent bad news surrounding Applied Materials’ SunFab turnkey solar technology and some of its customers have put industry watchers in a bearish mind about thin-film silicon solar technology in general — but that’s a bad rap, says one analyst……..

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May 4,2010 –

Researchers from Germany’s Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) are claiming a new record for thin-film solar cell efficiency, and say the mark is achievable beyond the demonstrated material (CIGS) to thin-film technology in gene…….

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