What’s happening right now?
While our 21st century society has reached for the stars, our civilization continues to be primarily powered with the polluting and dangerous fossil fuels of the industrial age of the 19th century. However, renewable energy sources are even larger than the traditional fossil fuels and in theory can easily supply the world’s energy needs. The earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than the world’s population uses in a whole year. There are several environmental benefits of using solar power, and the biggest advantage is that there are no carbon emissions. However, energy generated using solar panels and solar thermal energy generating systems are quite expensive. While the race to produce affordable clean electricity is on, researchers over the globe are coming up with systems that help generate renewable solar electricity at a reduced cost.
Trends
Efficient Solar Cells from Cheaper Materials
Researchers at IBM have developed new solar cells that offer several advantages over existing photovoltaics. Their solar cell is 40 percent more efficient than any similar cells and operate at a power conversion efficiency of 9.6 percent using only common elements like copper, zinc, tin, sulfur and selenium. The new process is likely to make such photovoltaics cheaper to manufacture, as it relies on techniques like printing, dip and spray coating, and slit casting that are already used in high-volume production.
Michael Grätzel’s low-cost solar cells
The 2010 Millennium Technology Prize was awarded to Swiss solar-cell scientist Michael Grätzel for designing a low cost solar power cell. The so-called “Graetzel’s cell” is made from a layer of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, covered with a molecular dye from squeezed berries that absorbs sunlight. Though Graetzel cells are still in the relatively early stages of development, but they show great promise as an inexpensive alternative to costly silicon solar cells and as an attractive candidate as a new renewable energy source.
Scientists make solar cells with cheap metal oxide
Scientists at Oxford University have discovered a way to design solar cells using a metal oxide found in toothpaste. Dr. Henry Snaith, who works in the physics department of the university, led the team. They combined the oxide obtained from the toothpaste with a thin dye which was printed on glass. This print thereby converted the energy from the sun into electricity. The glass can be used in windows and cladding buildings.
Full-spectrum solar panels
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a new solar cell that can capture the entire spectrum of sunlight to produce more energy. These cells are based on the use of a new semiconductor that makes use of gallium arsenide nitride. The use of these solar panels can guarantee more renewable energy at a reduced cost
The advantages
Harnessing solar power can put an end to the use of polluting fossil fuels. However, the high cost of solar panels and batteries used to store all that energy, is one of the factors that limits the adoption of photovoltaics on a global scale. With recent advancements in solar technology, it can be predicted that in the near future generating renewable solar energy will be just as affordable as energy produced by burning coal.
