Transparent solar panels could replace your windows.
German startup company Heliatek are testing their flexible, transparent solar panels which could one day be built into houses to act as power-generating windows.
The panels are only able to convert around 8% of available energy into electricity, compared with around 12-17% for traditional solar panels, but the company claims that they are able to make up for that by providing better performance in low light and high heat to provide almost the same energy production overall.
The technology works by depositing a layer of organic molecules on polyester films, in a similar way to how OLED displays are produced.
The company recently started making a small amount of panels on a “proof of concept” production line, and say that within four to five years the cost should come down to around 40 to 50 cents per watt, which will make them competitively priced compared to conventional solar panels. The new technology would also work out cheaper to install in new houses, as opposed to having to install windows as well as conventional solar panels on the roof.
Emergent Futures Tumblelog
Powerhouse Solar Cell Inspired by Leaf Biomimicry
A team of scientists headed up by Princeton University has achieved a whopping 47 percent increase in electricity generation from flexible plastic solar cells, simply by texturing the surface to mimic the wrinkles of a typical leaf.
Full Story: Cleantechnica
Solar cells must emit light to attain perfection, research suggests
Researchers at the University of California-Berkeley claim to have hit upon a counterintuitive means of boosting the efficiency of flatplate solar cells by making them emit light. “What we demonstrated is that the better a solar cell is at emitting photons, the higher its voltage and the greater the efficiency it can produce,” said principal researcher, UC Berkeley Professor of Electrical Engineering Eli Yablonovitch.
Full Story: Ars Technica
Reblogged from 8bitfuture|1,292 notes |# Comments
Printable solar cells could turn anything into an energy source.
A team at MIT has developed a process to ‘print’ solar cells onto almost any surface. Using chemical vapour deposition, the process uses “abundant organic molecules” to convert about 2 percent of the available energy into light. Typical solar panels are around 12-17% efficient, but the team thinks 10% efficiency is achievable.
The cost of installing panels keeps many people from adopting solar power, Barr says. By integrating it into ordinary materials, he thinks he can clear that hurdle. “You’re already hanging a curtain in your house,” he says. “Why not add some energy to that?”
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New solar cell technique could more than double efficiency.
A joint Australian/German research team have developed a way to boost efficiency of solar cells up to a record breaking 40% efficiency. Current panels have around 12-17% efficiency.
Called photochemical upconversion, the process captures energy that is normally lost in solar cells.
“We are able to boost efficiency by forcing two energy-poor red photons in the cell to join and make one energy-rich yellow photon that can capture light, which is then turned into electricity,” Associate Professor Schmidt said.
“We now have a benchmark for the performance of an upconverting solar cell. We need to improve this several times, but the pathway is now clear.”
Reblogged from futurescope|87 notes |# Comments
Ultrathin and lightweight organic solar cells with high flexibility
The only way that solar power is ever going to contribute an appreciable amount of energy to the betterment (and cheaperment) of society is if we plaster solar panels on everything, everywhere, all the time. And we might just be able to do it now, with this new generation of panels that are thinner than a strand of human hair by a factor of 20.
Thin doesn’t just mean lightweight (although these panels are very lightweight), it also means flexible. At 1.9 micrometers thick, the plastic foil cells are, for all practical purposes, elastic. So, you can layer them onto clothing, for example, and not only will you not be able to feel any additional weight, but the panels will be able to flex and crumple right along with the fabric without damaging anything.
Beyond applications requiring flexibility, solar cells that don’t take up any space and don’t weigh anything become an obvious thing to stick on to all sorts of surfaces just because you can. Back of a cellphone? Sure! Roof of your car? Sounds good! Bottom of your swimming pool? Why not!
The current generation of these cells can only convert 4.2% of sunlight into electricity (which is terrible, to be honest), but by the time commercial availability rolls around in five years or so, our hope is that that number will get bumped up enough to make it worthwhile to start putting this stuff on everything.
![futurescope:
Ultrathin and lightweight organic solar cells with high flexibility
The only way that solar power is ever going to contribute an appreciable amount of energy to the betterment (and cheaperment) of society is if we plaster solar panels on everything, everywhere, all the time. And we might just be able to do it now, with this new generation of panels that are thinner than a strand of human hair by a factor of 20.
Thin doesn’t just mean lightweight (although these panels are very lightweight), it also means flexible. At 1.9 micrometers thick, the plastic foil cells are, for all practical purposes, elastic. So, you can layer them onto clothing, for example, and not only will you not be able to feel any additional weight, but the panels will be able to flex and crumple right along with the fabric without damaging anything.
Beyond applications requiring flexibility, solar cells that don’t take up any space and don’t weigh anything become an obvious thing to stick on to all sorts of surfaces just because you can. Back of a cellphone? Sure! Roof of your car? Sounds good! Bottom of your swimming pool? Why not!
The current generation of these cells can only convert 4.2% of sunlight into electricity (which is terrible, to be honest), but by the time commercial availability rolls around in five years or so, our hope is that that number will get bumped up enough to make it worthwhile to start putting this stuff on everything.
[via] [paper] [photo credit: Kaltenbrunner etal.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m206b9Uqu81r08k60o1_500.jpg)
Reblogged from smarterplanet|121 notes |# Comments
Making solar power competitive with coal | KurzweilAI
This 25-micrometer-thick peel-off film of silicon, used to make solar cells, has a metal backing that keeps it from breaking (credit: Astrowatt)
By the end of the decade, U.S. manufacturers could make solar panels that are less than half as expensive as the ones they make now.
At 52 cents per watt, that would be cheap enough for solar power to compete with electricity from fossil fuels, according to a new study by MIT researchers in Energy & Environmental Science. Assuming similar cost reductions for installation and equipment, solar power would cost six cents per kilowatt-hour in sunny areas of the U.S. — less than the 15 cents per kilowatt-hour average cost of electricity in the U.S. today.
Improvements would include an alternative to the wasteful process now used to make silicon wafers, methods of handling thin wafers to avoid breaking, installation cost-reduction, and improved light absorption, such as using nanostructured layers.
Forging ahead with its green power agenda, IKEA is expanding its solar power commitments in the US yet again and installing more charging stations for electric cars.
Reblogged from climateadaptation|30 notes |# Comments
Solar Power Capacity Increased 54% in 2011
Reaching about 28 gigawatts (GW), solar power capacity increased about 54% in 2011, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Full Story: CleanTechnica
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