Dec

17

Aussies Hit 40% Solar Cell Efficiency

December 17, 2014 | 1 Comment

A University of New South Wales (UNSW) research team is converting over 40 percent of the sunlight hitting a solar system into electricity. The solar cell system has been independently confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at their outdoor test facility in the United States. 40 percent is a very big number, the […]

Jul

23

Can UCLA Save Solar Panels?

July 23, 2012 | 2 Comments

In the face of a string of intensely demoralizing federally backed alternative energy projects with Solyndra taking over a half billion dollars alone – solar panels seem to lead the way into a dead end.  Except that China’s solar industry is very much alive and competitive. The technology advances usually start in the U.S.  But […]

Dec

16

Doubling Up On Photovoltaic Solar Cell Efficiency

December 16, 2011 | 2 Comments

Chemistry Professor Xiaoyang Zhu at The University of Texas at Austin has a method of photon harvesting significantly increasing the efficiency of conventional solar cells.  The professor’s work improves the mechanisms of solar energy conversion. Zhu and his team have discovered that it’s possible to double the number of electrons harvested from one photon of […]

Jun

6

A Better Solar Panel Result

June 6, 2011 | 2 Comments

With photovoltaic panels the solar energy is harvested, but getting the resulting electricity to a useful form is still to go.  Solar panels make direct current; while the homes, businesses and the grid use alternating current.  Or simply put the electrons all stream steadily one way with direct current called ‘DC’ and the electrons stream […]

Aug

9

More Than Doubling the Power From a Solar Cell

August 9, 2010 | 2 Comments

Stanford’s Nick Melosh, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, seems to have cracked the problem of getting the heat of sunlight with the photons working to produce electricity in a solar cell.  That would not be just a photovoltaic; it would be infraredvoltaic plus photovoltaic.  The efficiency gets past 55% and near 60% in […]

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