Both whaling and whale-watching tourism occur in Iceland, but these activities are considered incompatible by many, and previous studies have suggested that whale-watch tourists would boycott whale-watch destinations where whaling takes place. This study assessed the perceptions of and attitudes towards ongoing whaling amongst whale-watch tourists in Iceland. A majority of whale-watching tourists in Iceland did not support whaling and did not think that whale-watching and whaling could exist side by side. However, 31% of respondents were unaware of Iceland's whaling before their visit and most of these indicated that prior knowledge of whaling activities would not have affected their choice of destination. More tourists had tried whale meat than either puffin or guillemot meat, suggesting that whale meat may be more strongly marketed to tourists visiting Iceland. These results suggest that not all tourists would consider boycotting travel to a whaling nation. The whale-watch industry is important to Iceland's economy, but given that the whaling industry can potentially negatively impact upon whale-watching activities, a careful analysis of the compatibility of these two industries is recommended.

The tolerance of photovoltaic performances of Cu(In,Ga)Se2-based (CIGSe) solar cells prepared from 3-stage grown absorbers to cadmium sulfide (CdS) buffer layer thickness was investigated. We focus on the influence of the maximum Cu content y = [Cu]/([In]+[Ga]) reached during the co-evaporation process on this tolerance. By increasing the duration of the 2nd stage we varied ymax from 0.93±0.11 up to 1.06±0.12. Although final Cu content and CIGSe surface morphology seem to be similar for all absorbers, the photovoltaic performance of cells with higher maximum Cu content are better; moreover they tolerate much thinner CdS buffers (down to 10 nm-thick) without open circuit voltage or fill factor loss. Cells with lower ymax exhibit more erratic performance and J(V,T) measurements show a specific voltage distribution for thin CdS. From these results it appears possible to decrease the CdS buffer layer thickness if it is deposited on adapted absorbers.

CuInS2 (chalcopyrite structure) thin films were synthesized at 250°C using a two-stage process consisting firstly in the co-evaporation of a large grain In2S3 (defect spinel structure) precursor layer followed by the addition of copper and sulfur. The crystalline properties of the resulting films are similar to those leading to high efficiency solar cells. An energy conversion efficiency of 6.7% has been attained with a 1.5 μm thick CuInS2 layer and a standard CdS buffer layer/ZnO window structure. Improved performances can be expected through the growth of thicker absorbers.