Solar energy hits new efficiency record

Darkfrog submitted, created time 4 weeks 2 days (www.nature.com)

The biggest problem with solar panels and solar cells, more than the expense of making them, has been that they just don't create as big of a return as fossil fuels.

Luminescent solar contractors (LSCs) look like glass panels with colored edges (although this might be artists' license). They are embedded with light-absorbing dyes to catch photons. When the photons are re-emitted, they bounce around inside the glass by total internal reflection (the same principal used in fiber optics) and eventually hit the solar cells mounted along the edges of the panel

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Carbon-free energy? Already in progress, says Nature.

Darkfrog submitted, created time 4 months 3 weeks (www.nature.com)

Here, Nature magazine gives an overview of the several different means of generating electricity without releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Increasing the efficiency of existing fossil fuel systems is also given its due.

Once again, we see why Nature is at the very top of science writing. Take a look at this:

"The fact that hydroelectric systems require no fuel means that they also require no fuel-extracting infrastructure and no fuel transport

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Nature examines thin-film and other solar cells

Darkfrog submitted, created time 5 months 1 week (www.nature.com)

There are a few different varieties of solar cell on the market and in development, but they've all got their ups and down. Traditional solar cells are now an established technology, but they are very expensive to make and their efficiencies don't top 22%. Other, newer types of solar cells (with one exception) are even less efficient, but they are much less troublesome to mass-produce. Some types of solar cells can even be woven into cloth.

As always, I'm a fan of Natures whole-picture approach. The practical, hopeful and economic aspects of this project all get their treatment.

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Organic dye lets window panes harvest the Sun

sea-maid submitted, created time 5 months 3 weeks (technology.newscientist.com)

Harvesting sunlight before turning it into electricity could become easier thanks to an exotic organic dye developed in the US.

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Solar power: Organic dyes help harvest sunlight

Darkfrog submitted, created time 5 months 4 weeks (www.nature.com)

Researchers claim that glass laced with specific dyes can channel photons into small solar cells, giving them as much power as if they covered a larger area without overheating. Researchers tried dye-enhanced solar devices years ago, but the research was full of problems. Either the dyes would break down in sunlight or the photons would be reabsorbed too quickly.

Marc Baldo of MIT claims that once the process is fine-tuned the efficiency of most of today's solar cells could be doubled. The research team believes that their work could be available commercially in as little as three years.

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a revolution in solar power--thin-film

sea-maid submitted, created time 8 months 1 week (www.sciam.com)

Thin-film photovoltaic cells, like those in the array seen here in Mainbernheim, Germany, can harvest as much energy from the sun with far less semiconductor material,the lowest cost and most reliable thin-film technology directly into building construction materials will be the beginning of a revolution in solar power, we will see the day when solar became an economically substantive part of our energy mix

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Branched-polymer solar cells capture more energy

Darkfrog submitted, created time 1 year 8 months (www.sciam.com)

Regular solar cells are simple, cheap, and barely effective, but a new solar cell design out of Wake Forest shows more promise. By incorporating branched polymer structures to guide photons, the new cells have been able to trap more light. Different sources rate its efficiency as little as 3.3% -- still respectable -- or as high as 6%, which would be a record. The article does not say whether this would make the cells more expensive.

The article mentions "trees" but it's entirely metaphorical

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