Inventor Wins solar cells Finnish technology

Michael Graetzel Federer won the Millennium Technology Prize for inventing low-cost solar cells used in the generation of renewable energy.
Innovation "provides a more cost effective to use solar energy" and led to the development of windows generating solar electricity and phones, said the Finnish Academy of Technology in granting the award of 800,000 euros ($ 960,000).

The academy said that finding ways to replace the diminishing fossil fuel reserves is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity, adding that the Sun "is the most obvious source of energy."
"The limitation of solar energy has traditionally been cost. Graetzel cells will provide a more cost effective to use it," said Ainomaija Haarle, president of the academy. "The innovation of Graetzel almost certainly going to have an important role in low-cost solutions and large scale to produce renewable energy."

It was the fourth time in Finland awards the biennial Millennium Technology Prize, which was launched by the government and industry in 2004. It is awarded for achievements in energy and environment, communications, and information, new materials and processes, and health and life sciences.
The previous winner, in 2008, was the American professor Robert Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for developing biomaterials used in combating cancer and heart disease.
Other winners were the Japanese Shuji Nakamura's inventions laser and LED technology, and Tim Berners-Lee, an MIT scientist who is credited with creating the Internet.