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  • Hani Amara / Reuters

    Researchers break efficiency record for consumer-friendly solar panels

    by 
    Sean Buckley
    Sean Buckley
    03.22.2017

    Turning sunlight into power is a surprisingly tricky thing. Experiments in academia have created solar arrays that can capture up to 40-percent of the sun's energy and convert it to electricity, but consumer cells are notably less efficient. At best, silicon-based technology has a theoretical 29-percent efficiency ceiling -- meaning any consumer panel in the low 20s is doing pretty well. Still, we're inching ever closer to the technology's limit. Researchers at Kaneko corp recently announced that they've developed a silicon solar cell with a record-breaking 26.3 percent efficiency rating.