Posted on 03/01/2006 5:25:16 AM PST by Mikey_1962
Energy security has become one of the hottest political topics in the last few years with the prospects of skyrocketing oil prices and shortages. Along with the looming dangers of climate change, the urgency of alternatives to CO2 emitting energy sources is becoming more obvious by the day. One of the most important actions to counter these challenges is the establishment of alternative energy sources such as solar energy. Latest research by South African scientists have taken us one step further to realising these goals.
Solar power has traditionally been differentiated into solar thermal and solar photovoltaic systems. The photo-voltaic effect is a phenomenon that depends on quantum physics, and allows specific materials to directly convert solar radiation to electricity. The photo-voltaic effect is used in solar panels, that have been powering spacecraft for decades and have recently been making their presence felt in supplying electricity to free-standing locations on earth, like telephone towers and pump systems on farms.
However, the panels available commercially today are almost all based on high-purity silicon as the photo-voltaic material, and these panels are much more expensive than the equivalent amount of coal, petrol or gas.
The only way to make photovoltaic energy more widely used, is to make devices (including solar panels) that are much cheaper than the current silicon-based devices. The most promising PV material identified to date is Copper-Indium-Gallium-Diselenide (CIGS).
CIGS is much more efficient than silicon at converting incident sunlight into an electric current: Less than one micron of CIGS absorbs more than 99% of available incident solar energy, compared to 350 microns of silicon to do the same job.
Despite the excitement around CIGS, significant cost savings compared to silicon were not achieved, despite 20 years of research. However, a new development has made the picture considerably brighter.
(Excerpt) Read more at scienceinafrica.co.za ...
"a state-of-the-art sputtering" made me think of Teddy the Swimmer!
If I kept copies of all the stories about novel new materials that will finally make solar economic, I'd have a stack tall enough to burn in my wood burning stove for 10 years.
Reminds me of the New England folk tale about the old Geezer that live in the woods at the far end of the postal route. Seems as though he would sign up for every mailing list, free paper and every possible piece of junk mail you could imagine.
This of couse ran counter to "common sense", and reached a point where the local postal delivery person was ready to have the gentleman committed!
Finally, after dropping off another large load of "junk mail" the Postman confronted the Geeze. "Why do you put up with this stuff? Don't you know you can 'Opt-out' of all this mail? I know it's lonely here, but you can possibly read it all"
To which he replied "Read it? Hell NO! I burn it for heat, and you deliver it right to my door for free!"
How quickly this will happen? Who knows? However, it does seem likely, given news like this and the pronouncement from President Bush about energy, that it won't be too long a period of time. Regardless, if they continue to threaten the world's oil supply,which seems likely, the world will inevitably find another way to generate the power it needs, regardless of how long it takes. On that day we will all take great pleasure in telling the Saudis, Hugo Chavez, Al-Qaeda, et. al. to shove it where PV cells won't work.
I think they are green...
"Right. Vivian, eat the telly."
"What does race have anything to do with this subject????"
Sounds to me like a liberal troll trying to make FR look like a racist entity. Lib or dumb@ss conservative, it doesn't matter. We don't need such stupidity.
Saw that coming. But it's a good story.
Plus the storage problem is glossed over. The "all the energy needed" phrase assumes sunlight 24/7, an absurd lapse.
Plus the maintenance absolutely necessary to maintain highest efficiency is neither mentioned nor examined.
Last but not least, what about the storage medium and the cost of recycling both the panels and the storage media?
This was my all time favorite episode.
Get the picture?
Boomp.
Yes! Now I know what I want for siding on the south side of the house!
I posted a solar thread this morning and researchers in the US were claiming they could cut the installation costs for 1 watt of power from $7 to $3.50 or less. If this article is correct the SA solar panels will cost about $1.66 per watt. That's about 1/4th of current cost. Quite a jump in efficiency if their claims pan out.
I'll fight you for first in line! This would be wonderful. And at last my house with the South facing roof would be put to good use.
---I still think the most promise lies in concentraing the light and heat from the sun in a large satellite-dish type device and using it to turn a Stirling engine to power a generator or charge a deep-cell battery. The loss of efficiency is far less than the conversion of light.---
Aeronutronic did this during the 70's and put it up at Edwards AFB. Oil got cheaper. Don't know what happened to experiment.
I am researching the "build-it-yourself kit" that I once saw and forgot about.
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