More Efficient Solar Power Coming Soon
posted in Energy |In my eyes Solar power is one of those “obvious” things that I can’t believe humanity hasn’t done a better job with. Humans seem to like sunlight. We seem to have evolved such that we are supposed to spend less time in caves and underground, more time in the outdoors (although a little UV blocking is probably a good thing too). One might even posit that we were meant to take advantage of the sun. It is out there, you know, always…
But solar power, until extremely recently, was unbelievably inefficient. The first few dozen years of innovation got less than 10% of the power absorbed by the cells actually stored and usable. The first generation of nano-tech solar cells bumped that number to about 12%, but they are still primarily in labs. According to CNET, some Australian researchers are now able to get 13-15% efficiency. It’s better than nothing, but I sure hope we’re only at the tip of the iceberg to improving the market for solar power.
Hopefully this’ll soon make its way up to the great solar fields in Canada!