Sony is showing off a lamp with photovoltaic dyes that can harvest energy from interior light, a somewhat rare bit of solar technology from the electronics giant. But chances are more solar news could follow. The lamp, shown off last week at an eco products convention in Tokyo, contains the dye-powered solar cells in transparent side panels, according to a report on TechOn. The solar cells harvest power, store it in a small battery and the battery then is used to illuminate a decorative pattern in the panels. (See pictures at TechOn here.) The module containing the dye-powered solar cells are only 4 percent efficient. One minute of battery power takes 15 minutes of exposure to light. Right now, Sony has no plans for selling the lamp. Still, Sony has achieved cell efficiencies of over 10 percent and module efficiencies of 8.2 percent in the laboratory. Although Sony remains one of the largest consumer electronics makers in the world, you don't hear the name much in solar. In some ways, that puts Sony in the minority when it comes to large Asian electronics makers. Samsung, LG, Kyocera Sharp and Panasonic are already large players in solar or have announced wide-ranging solar plans. Rival Panasonic just bought Sanyo, the world's seventh-largest solar maker, this week. Solar prices are supposed to dip by 20 percent or so in 2009 as more production lines go live. There's also a global recession. But the solar business will be around a long time. The PC industry didn't get killed in the economic downturn of 1981 and 1982. And Sony doesn't like being left out of markets their close rivals are doing well in. If they started talking a bit more about solar at CES next month, it wouldn't surprise me.

Microbes, clean coal, underground digestion. How could you not like Luca Technologies. The company -- which has discovered a strain of microorganisms that can convert coal into methane -- has raised $75.9 million in a third round of financing, according to VentureWire. (subscription required.). In a nutshell, the microorganisms eat coal and methane comes out the other end, which is really the same thing that occurs when cows eat grass. Burning methane is cleaner than burning coal. Thus, Luca's bugs can cut down the fumes and pollution from what is probably the inevitable continued consumption of coal. The microbes can also eat dirty shale oil. They are anaroebic too. This sort of biogenic production of methane is already taking place underground naturally, the company has said in published papers. Luca's goal is to commercialize and standardize it. Microbes are the central players in a number of clean tech companies: Amyris, Genomatica, Cambrios, ZeaChem, Mascoma. Cleanliness, however, is dependent on two factors: Can Luca get its microbes to make coal inside underground coal seams so they can avoid mining and can Luca capture the other gases that come out of the microorganisms? In a lot of ways, Luca resembles Laurus Energy, which recently got money from Mohr Davidow. Laurus digs holes into the earth and converts coal to synthetic gases underground. No mining and dangerous gases are captured. Laurus, however, uses industrial equipment and not microbes.