Solar Energy Breakthrough

Solar energy breakthrough with 'near perfect' absorption of light

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy. By developing a new antireflective coating that boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle, the research team has moved academia and industry closer to realizing high-efficiency, cost-effective solar power.
“To get maximum efficiency when converting solar power into electricity, you want a solar panel that can absorb nearly every single photon of light, regardless of the sun’s position in the sky,” said Shawn-Yu Lin, professor of physics at Rensselaer and a member of the university’s Future Chips Constellation, who led the research project. “Our new antireflective coating makes this possible.”
An untreated silicon solar cell only absorbs 67.4 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that nearly one-third of that sunlight is reflected away and thus unharvestable. From an economic and efficiency perspective, this unharvested light is wasted potential and a major barrier hampering the proliferation and widespread adoption of solar power.
After a silicon surface was treated with Lin’s new nanoengineered reflective coating, however, the material absorbed 96.21 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that only 3.79 percent of the sunlight was reflected and unharvested. This huge gain in absorption was consistent across the entire spectrum of sunlight, from UV to visible light and infrared, and moves solar power a significant step forward toward economic viability.

Material compiled from Rensselaer Press Release
“Realization of a Near Perfect Antireflection Coating for Silicon Solar Energy” published this week by the journal Optics Letters.

Solar Energy Solutions

With the world slowly moving to the much-dreaded energy crisis, it is important that we reduce our dependency on non-renewable sources of energy. The sun’s energy is the most abundant energy available on earth. It only makes sense to take advantage of all this free energy and employ solar energy solutions at home and at your business. This will not only cut down your power bills but also help you contribute to a greener world.

Solar energy solutions comprise of photovoltaic panels, solar cookers, solar heating systems, solar lighting systems, solar dryers etc. The sun has always been a source of heat energy and light energy. With the advancement of technology the sun can be used to create many forms of energy more efficiently than ever.

There are many solar energy solutions that are more cost effective than conventional methods. Such as, supplying power to remote locations. Do you need power to open a gate, power to a shed or boat house or even lighting along your drive? Solar power solutions can be cheaper than running power lines and having to re-landscape. People have also used solar energy solutions to heat there pools and house hold water for years. To heat water you do not need to incorporate photovotaic panels, so it is even more cost effective than generating electricity with the sun! And when look at how cost effective photovoltaic panels are, in the long run, you will begin to wonder why you have not already been heating your water with solar energy.

You can direct natural sunlight into your home using sky lights that magnify the suns intensity or though the use of fiber optics. Building a new home or renovating? How about incorporating elements in the design that take advantage of solar energy. Elements such as considering where your windows are and how warm air circulates through the home naturally. You could include a sun room that sends the suns radiant heat through the rest of the home and you could incorporate a heat wall that stores and radiates the suns heat even after the sun goes down. There are many things you can do to optimize your home without going as far as installing photovoltaic panels. Though why would you not take advantage of solar energy in as many ways as possible.

Solar energy systems have many advantages apart from being cost-effective and environment-friendly. They are low on maintenance thus saving your time and effort. Also, solar systems give you a return on investment very soon, thus making the systems free after some time. You can even, if set up properly, sell excess energy to the power company and get a credit on your bill every month.

As you can see there are many solar energy solutions available and I only mentioned a few. There are more and more being developed all the time, and as we become more aware of these advantages and begin to utilize them in our own home and businesses, the more others become aware and therefore begin to use these solutions. As the demand increases the more development and production increases and the more the cost will come down as competition increases, etc. This is a cycle that has been happening slowly over a number of years but needs to increase, and will increase, if we are to offset our dependence on non renewable resources.

For more information on how you can use solar energy check out Portable Solar Power.

Solar Energy Solutions

Solar Energy Solutions

Welcome to my Solar Energy Solutions blog. Want to discover how solar energy can help you? Whether you are looking to help your home or business there are solar energy solutions to be found. Check back with us. You can also check out Portable Solar Power or check out this complete guide on other alternative energy solutions.