photovoltaics Archives – The Green Optimistic

Innovative Power Electronics Prevent Grid Overload During Solar Boom

Leigh Hutchens — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 08:05:48 +0000

Around 40% of the world’s power needs are currently met by electrical energy and that proportion is expected to rise as countries cut carbon emissions and shift to renewable energy sources. As the trend towards renewable energies increases, enabling technologies such as power electronics are becoming ever more important. Utilities are becoming increasingly concerned that […]

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Silicon-Based PV Architecture Holds The Future of The Energy Market, Study Says

Mila Luleva — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 20:30:13 +0000

New multi-termal, multi-junction architecture holds the key to efficient and cheap electricity generation using commercially available silicon and thin-film solar cells. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by scientists from Clemson and Pennsylvania State Universities. The researchers claim that efficient management of the flux of solar photons through the solar cells, combined with […]

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MIT Researchers Develop Solar Cells 1000 More Powerful than Traditional Photovoltaics

Leigh Hutchens — Sat, 29 Jun 2013 03:22:39 +0000

According to researchers at MIT, developing solar energy technology that focuses on lightweight, thin solar cells has the potential to transform the industry. These thin solar cells can be produced by stacking sheets of single molecule-thick graphene or molybdenum disulfide. Why is this important? Because the researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to create […]

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Solar Modules Have Great Efficiency Potential, NREL Director Says

Mila Luleva — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:30:51 +0000

All solar modules and solar cells have the potential to get a boost in efficiency, especially thin-film solar and concentrated photovoltaics. This is according to Dan Arvizu, the director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), who presented his observations during the 2013 International Renewable Energy Conference in Abu Dhabi. Although thin-film solar panels have […]

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Thin Film Solar Efficiency Record Set by First Solar

Leigh Hutchens — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 03:32:05 +0000

First Solar, an innovator in solar energy, has just set a new world record for solar cell conversion efficiency. The company set the record with its cadmium-telluride (CdTE) thin film solar cell. CdTE solar cells can be produced quicker and cheaper than conventional solar cells. First Solar hopes this will eventually decrease the cost of […]

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Ubiquitous Energy’s Transparent Solar Cells Just a Matter of Time

Leigh Hutchens — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:47:11 +0000

New startup Ubiquitous Energy is developing a host of technologies that enable seamless deployment of light-harvesting functionality. The company aims to develop affordable, transparent coatings and films that have the ability to harvest light energy when used on windows or screens of tablet devices or e-readers. Ubiquitous Energy created photovoltaics that take up light to […]

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Black Silicon Makes Solar Cells More Efficient

Leigh Hutchens — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 06:18:30 +0000

Aalto University scientists have achieved an improvement in light absorption and surface passivation of silicon nanostructures after applying an atomic layer coating. This finding may advance high sensitivity light response devices such as high efficiency solar cells. Researchers detailed their findings in the January issue of Journal of Photovoltaics. Surface passivation is improved by utilizing […]

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Peel-and-Stick Flexible Solar Panels Open World of Possibilities for Solar Power

Leigh Hutchens — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 06:31:48 +0000

The rigidity of solar cells has long frustrated scientists. Solar cell applications are often very limited since the cells come in stiff, heavy, fixed panels. Scientists have long dreamed of photovoltaics that are more like decals than panels, and they envisioned flexible solar panels that can be peeled off like stickers and adhere to any […]

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Organic Solar Cells With Cobalt Electrolyte Outperforming Silicon PVs

Leigh Hutchens — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:44:10 +0000

There’s no way around it. Photovoltaics, while incredibly energy efficient, are expensive. In sharp contrast, dye-based solar cells seem to be a cheaper alternative to traditional solar cells. Looking especially promising are tandem cells made up of a conventional n-type and a p-type dye-sensitive solar cell. P-type cells are different than traditional n-type dye sensitive […]

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History of Solar Power: The Key To The Future Lies In The Past

Mila Luleva — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 04:28:24 +0000

As the days go by, we keep hearing more and more about greenhouse gases, depleting ozone layer, climate change, global warming. It seems like nearly every research theme has focused on mitigating, preventing or coping with the consequences of one or all of the above. Here, we decided to pay particular attention to solar energy. […]

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Usable Quantum Dot Solar Cells Finally Produced at NREL

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:33:22 +0000

A new type of solar cell developed by a team of researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, is able to harvest the energy that photovoltaic cells usually lose as heat. Although the efficiency is for now only 5 percent, the process could be improved in the future. The researchers led by […]

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Grätzel's New Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Cheaper and More Efficient

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:34:34 +0000

As our loyal readers already know, Michael Grätzel invented dye-sensitized solar cells 20 years ago, but, despite their low price, these organic cells have proved rather inefficient. However, Grätzel now found a solution for the cells to be cheaper and more efficient. Grätzel’s cells use organic dyes to absorb sunlight, which hits the titanium dioxide […]

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Cold Mountain Tops: The Best Locations for Harvesting Solar Power

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:50:52 +0000

If you were to install a solar power plant, where would you? I bet your answer stands in between California and Sahara, and you couldn’t be more right to think so. Who’d ever think of installing a photovoltaic plant on the top of Himalaya, for example? Well, a new study performed by researchers from Japan’s […]

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New Energy Technology's Spray-On Solar Cells Applied on Flexible Plastic Material

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:33:26 +0000

Last year, a company called New Energy Technology announced that they had succeeded making a photovoltaic substance that, applied on clear glass, could generate electricity. Now, they are announcing the same innovation being available for flexible plastic materials.

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MIT Researchers Invent Solar Cells That Transform Heat Into Electricity

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 16:35:58 +0000

If you thought photovoltaics can only get energy from the Sun, then you were wrong. An MIT team of researchers have invented a device that produces electricity from heat. The process uses the photovoltaic effect as the middleman and is three times more efficient than the most efficient lithium ion batteries on market today.

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Record: AltaDevices Brags 28.2 Percent Efficient Gallium Arsenide Solar Cell

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:18:17 +0000

A new solar cell efficiency record has been achieved by a startup CA-based company called Alta Devices. Previously unknown, the Santa Clara firm brags an efficiency of 28.2 percent for their gallium-arsenide solar cell, a number 2 percent higher than last year's previous record, and could eventually bring down the costs of solar power to make it compete with coal and gas.

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Voltaic Spark: 8-Watt Solar Powered Carrying Case for iPads and Other Gadgets

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:12:33 +0000

I've been writing about Nokia testing a solar powered version of one of their cellphones just the other day, and thought it's a pretty stupid idea to apply solar cells on phones since they're kept mostly inside pockets, and they aren't transparent. Today I found out that a company called Voltaic is releasing a solar powered carrying case for tablets - the Spark.

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SunPower's Solar Panels Enter The Guinness Book

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:09:23 +0000

I didn't know the Guiness Book awards solar cell efficiencies lately. This story I read on Cleantechnica tells how SunPower, "the most popular solar panels company in California," got into the Guinness Book for providing people with "the most efficient commercially available photovoltaic modules on the market."

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Plants vs Solar Cells: Which is The Most Efficient Energy Converter?

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:26:45 +0000

Both solar cells and plants process sunlight one way or the other, but there's a catch: one of them is more efficient. Guided by common sense, we'd say that the plants' billions of years of "experience" in capturing and storing energy will win. Is it so?

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3D Nanocone Solar Cells Improve Efficiency by 80% in Lab Experiments

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 02 May 2011 14:31:01 +0000

Jun Xu and his team from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory have just created a three-dimensional "nanocone-based solar cell platform," which is able to increase the light conversion efficiency by almost 80 percent by eliminating the issue of poor charge transport due to bulk material defects.

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Solar Junction Sets New Efficiency Record for Concentrated Photovoltaics: 43.5%

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:24:26 +0000

A new record for concentrated photovoltaics efficiency has been broken by Solar Junction, the same company that announced a 41.4% efficiency in February. The new score is 43.5% and their multi-junction solar cells can be produced right away.

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Precision Nanoparticles Technology to Revolutionize Solar Cells

Cristi — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:35:50 +0000

The chemists from the Idaho National Laboratory and Idaho State University may have found the gold mine of solar energy efficiency. They invented the manufacturing of a highly precise and uniform nanopaticle that improves solar cells and further spurs the growing nanotech revolution.

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Meteosat Used to Detect Faulty Solar Panel Power Stations

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:28:18 +0000

Italy is known for its plans to develop photovoltaic power as one of their main sources of energy. Having such a wide experience in solar power harvesting, several issues arise regarding the solar panels' maintenance. Every PV plant has a sensor verifying the quantity of light arriving at its location at any given moment during the day.

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New Nanostructure Film Reduces Solar Cells Reflection for Better Efficiency

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:55:36 +0000

Oregon State University engineers have innovated a new nanostructure film technology that they can deposit on any surface and reduce the reflectance of light. Their technology should perform better and have a lower price.

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Fraunhofer Develops New, Easy to Make High Efficiency Solar Cells

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:06:01 +0000

Yet another efficiency record has been established for mass-producible solar cells: 23.4%. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) from Germany succeeded to manufacture a single-crystal silicon solar cell of a thin p-type semiconductor layer residing on an n-type semiconductor substrate. The solar cell's area is 2x2cm.

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ElectraWall Photovoltaic System Working Even at Night Time

Cristi — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 05:38:26 +0000

Your safety is the thing that counts most while being behind the wheel on the highway. And when the night falls the situation is getting critical. But Solaroad Technologies Group has thought of a system that can light the roads using the daylight energy.

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Concentrated Solar Power Could Lower Price of Electricity to $0.1/kW by 2020

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:45:16 +0000

CSP stands for Concentrated Solar Power, and it really isn't a cutting edge technology. It uses solar power, focused through mirrors, to heat water in a central tower (like in the image on the left), create steam, and spin a turbine to generate electricity. It's so simple and effective that it can currently deliver electricity at €0.15 to €0.23 a kilowatt.

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Gain Up to 30% More Solar Power With Automatic Cleaning System

Cristi — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:12:27 +0000

Heliotex has released the first pending patent of automatic cleaning systems for business and home solar panels. Heliotex Automatic Solar Panel Cleaning Systems automatically washes and rinses the solar panels as often as you find necessary. The system helps you to maximize your investment by allowing your solar panels to achieve their full potential (dirty solar panels lose up to 30% efficiency).

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World's Most Efficient Solar Water Heater Made by Surface Power

Cristi — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:45:26 +0000

Surface Power received an independent certification from TUV Rhineland that their solar water heaters are at least 131% more efficient in the morning and evening, and 76% more at midday than other solar heaters.

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New MOSFET-based Device Makes Ultra Low Power Green Sources Usable

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:53:08 +0000

A company called Advanced Linead Devices, from Sunnyvale, CA, has designed a MOSFET (a power transistor, you may have one your stereo at home - it basically looks like the picture above) that can open itself to very tiny, small, voltages, and it's called "zero-threshold MOSFET".

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Solar Paint soon to be Marketed as The Cheapest Source of Energy

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:28:50 +0000

Some recent partnership between UK university researchers and Corus Colours, also a UK-based firm, brought to the surface a promise of future commercialization of cheap dye-based solar panels.

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