Solar cell breakthrough: 40% efficiency achieved
By Evan Blass 
posted December 6th 2006 6:25PM
posted December 6th 2006 6:25PM
If that silly Hummer O2 concept vehicle we just saw didn't sate your appetite for environmental friendliness, try this on for size: researchers at Boeing-Spectrolab have just succeeded in building a multi-junction solar cell that achieves an incredible 40.7% efficiency, or -- to the best of our knowledge -- about twice that of the reigning champ in this space. To put this Department of Energy-backed breakthrough in perspective, it was less than two months ago that Silicon Valley-based SunPower announced a 22% efficient cell, and even that model was claimed to produce 50% more power over a given space than previous iterations. In case you're unfamiliar with multi-junction cells -- no shame in that game -- they can best be described as being composed of several layers, with each slice capturing only a portion of the solar spectrum; this method of optical concentration is what has allowed cells to surpass the 12% to 18% efficiency barrier faced by most traditional modules. In conclusion, while this is certainly an encouraging development, we remain somewhat skeptical about its potential for real-world implementation: once Big Oil gets wind of this new tech, it will likely "disappear" just as quickly as that guy who invented a car that runs on water, man.[Via Slashdot]
By "Big Oil", do you mean The White House? Let's not forget when our Commander and Chief feel off the oil-free Segway. "Ooops!" *Sign*
i love how they say "blanketing parts of the sahara with this would be too expensive"
lets see when oil hits 100$ a barrel will it be still to expensive? why does the econemy have to be so damn reactive instead of proactive????
Its not about MONEY, learn the facts, if it was the gas industry and its billions of dollars revenue every month would be enough cash to blanket just about anywhere... especially if you take into account the EXTREME tax breaks and subsidies big oil gets.
lol its big oil.. not the white house... the issue is the puppet masters behind the whitehouse... anyone that thinks its a joke really needs to understand how "lobbyists" work
impressive...but it all comes down to economics...whats the damn price?
and for the guy/idiot to say "Al Gore for President"...I really hope your joking...that guy is the biggest tool around. His movie is full of lies...but he knows that the people who watch it will believe anything he says anyway...so theres no point for factual accuracy.
And for the guy talking about how we can be 100% solar, becasue we can use batteries to store the eltricity.....not happening. batery tech is lagging, you cant store enough to keep you satisfied. If you building a "green" home, its best to use 2 sepperate methods...I would suggest Solar & wind. Personal turbines are for salw now...for like 10 grand you can power 30-70% of your house...and that with solar and you should be good to go.
"primary reason innovation is at a crawl in electric generation is this government-protected monopoly"
no, the biggest reason is that all innovative techno like Nuclear, solar whatever needs huge starting investment at the beginning but are quite cheap on long term. The problem is the cost is mainly related to the cost of debt and private companies cannot compete efficiently on these kind of project and always choose the cheapest with the fastest ROI : the dirty Coal.
but in France the government was the main stakeholder (low cost of debt) and they created there a huge nuclear development (87% of the electricity) with a fantastic infrastructure, same for the gas, at the lowest coast possible.
remember capitalism doesn't guaranty the cheapest price but is all about transparency.
Someone invented a car that ran on water? Gimme weblinks.
----- Joke ---->
SoreThumb's Head
Car that runs on water?
You must mean the aquada:
www.gibbstech.co.uk/aquada.php
Ok, the cells at the company I used to work at were ~32% efficient, so this is a far cry from 2x that.
Furthermore, these cells (triple junction) will never see use for terrestrial applications, they are going into space on a satellite. The reason for this is that they cost huge money. Like hundreds of dollars for a 2" square cell.
BUT there is hope for terrestrial solar power, the company I am working at now is working on a system that uses a large parabolic dish that tracks the sun and focuses it onto a small grid of cells (normal monojuncion silicon).
They are calculating that their system will be competitive to a coal burning plant over the lifetime of the system. The problem is that with solar power all of the cost is up front, so it requires a huge investment, where as coal is mostly incremental costs.
Hello!
Is there any one who can exactly tell me how much expense is required to run a house with the following appliances on solar energy and what equipments are required:
1. 4 Fans
2. 8 Tube Lights
3. 2 AC
4. 1 Television
5. 1 Intercom/ Door Bell
Secondly, which place is the cheapest producer of solar equipments.
I am actually designing a feasibility for a city which is 70% to 80% sunny all over the year though the whole country is but at the moment only the city is under consideration.
I am also looking for an investor as well as the profit is guaranteed obviously.
Thanks!
Musheer
The Boeing press release states "Using concentrated sunlight, Spectrolab demonstrated the ability of a photovoltaic cell to convert 40.7 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity."
Does anyone know what the phrase "concentrated sunlight" means?
Source: http://www.spectrolab.com/com/news/news-detail.asp?id=172