Alternative energy tech co. hopes solar and friction does mix

Wherever finite energy resources can be saved, it is a good thing. Where light and heat can be harnessed through units as small as a grain of rice – or even smaller – it is a sign of truly remarkable, breakthrough technology. And when such technology is made available to the general public and to business premises everywhere, it should raise even more eyebrows.

Washington, D.C.-based New Energy Technologies, Inc. (OTC:BB: NENE, Stock Forum), put forth the opinion that it was doing just that, by announcing shortly before the May long weekend the development of new tinted transparent glass SolarWindows™ capable of generating electricity by coating glass surfaces with the world’s smallest known organic solar cells.

New Energy’s SolarWindow technology uses an organic solar array - cells about one-quarter the size of a blade of grass - which achieves transparency through the creative use of conducting polymers that have the same desirable electrical properties as the world’s most commercially popular semiconductor, silicon. However, the technology also boasts a considerably better capacity to absorb optically photons from light, thereby generating electricity.

NENE is striking while the iron is hot: SolarWindow follows hot on the heels of the company’s MotionPower™ technology, similar to what is used to power hybrid vehicles, and aimed at “harnessing the energy beneath your tires,” to quote company literature. The difference is, instead of being installed in cars and trucks, it’s installed in the roadways, capturing the friction energy that is otherwise dissipated as heat.

New Energy is certain of the potential for this kind of technology; with a quarter-billion vehicles going over America’s roads every day, NENE claims it’s poised to capitalize on an untapped commercial opportunity, while delivering timely cost savings and long-term environmental benefits to energy consumers.

The potential for success with SolarWindow is just as huge: there are nearly five million commercial buildings in America, according to the Energy Information Administration, and more than 80 million single detached homes. With the objective of reducing this country’s reliance on foreign oil by 75% by 2025, investment in alternative energy is increasing every year. NENE purports to be in the forefront of this investment.

The stock reached its 52-week high this week last year, at $1.67, slipping into the dungeon last Christmas of six and a half cents a share. It had recovered by mid-May of this year to 47 cents. Seeing if they can deliver this technology to the masses will prove to be the company’s next real task.