The Future: Collecting Solar Energy at Night
by Stacy Feldman - Jan 8th, 2008
in
A promising story in the plight for cheap, ubiquitous solar power -- and an increasingly typical one, it should be said.
This one chronicles a new technology that's so efficient it can collect solar energy at night, potentially for just pennies a yard, mainly because it doesn't require traditional (and expensive) high-grade silicon. (And you thought the iTunes price of a $1 a watt from Nanosolar was a bargain.)
They're called "nanoantennas," the brain child of researchers at three labs -- the Idaho National Labratory, Microcontinuum Inc. of Cambridge Mass, and University of Missouri. From the article:
By focusing on readily available materials and rapid manufacturing from inception the aim is to make nanoantenna arrays as cheap as inexpensive carpet, said physicist Steven Novack, who spoke about the technology in November at the National Nano Engineering Conference in Boston.
The nanoanttenas absorb energy just like TV, cell phone and WiFi antennas and can be placed on almost any material, even plastic. And they're so tiny -- 1/25 the diameter of human hair -- that they're able to harvest energy from the infrared part of the sun's spectrum.
That means they can absorb energy directly from the sun's rays and the Earth's heat, even after the sun has set.
With that kind of efficiency they may give traditional, bulky solar panels a run for their money one day. Today's commercial panels can turn less than 20 percent of the energy that strikes them into electricity. Nanoantennas on the other hand hold the promise of being four times more efficient -- transforming 80 percent of usable energy into electricity. So predicts the research team. Still, the folks at Nanosolar have nothing to fret about -- at least not yet.
That's because there's a giant hurdle that has yet to be passed with the technology of nanoanttenas. Researchers are still unable to convert the energy they collect from the sun into usable electricity. But they promise that's but a few years away.
Solar power by day and night. Cheaper than any solar panel on the market by far. Commercially viable. Sure sounds like an energy revolution in the works.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Thanking
Thanks for sharing this useful post...
Gorgeous
Gorgeous picture. Solar power utilization is the best way to go. It's clean, free, and unlimited.
THIS IS GOOOOOOD!!!!!!!
I really got into this one im a 9th grader in debate and this helps my case really good.
thanks for the site it really helps i might win yeah me!!!!!!!!!!!
Post new comment