Nanopillar Solar May Cost 10x Less Than Silicon 199
Al writes "A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a new kind of flexible solar cell that could be far cheaper to make than conventional silicon photovoltaics. The cells consist of an array of 500-nanometer-high cadmium sulfide pillars printed on top of an aluminum foil — the material surrounding the pillars absorbs light and releases electrons, while the pillars themselves transport the electrons to an electrical circuit. The closely packed pillars trap light between them, helping the surrounding material absorb more. This means the electrons also have a very short distance to travel through the pillars, so there are fewer chances of their getting trapped at defects and its possible to use low-quality, less expensive materials. '"You won't know the cost until you do this using a roll-to-roll process," says lead researchers Ali Javey. "But if you can do it, the cost could be 10 times less than what's used to make [crystalline] silicon panels."'"
That title makes me cringe. (Score:4, Insightful)
Great news! (Score:2, Insightful)
I am f tired reading about cheap solar panals (Score:5, Insightful)
for last 5 years same shit gets posted over and over again - Cheap solar panals
5 years later - in some cases panels went up in price
Based on recent history... (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't tell me. It'll be ready for mass production in 3 to 5 years. Somehow, I seem to remember stories like this from more than five years ago, and still, nothing happens and the solar cells are more or less the same as always.
"may" cost less (Score:4, Insightful)
Nanopillar Solar May Cost 10x Less Than Silicon
...and then, it may not.
Re:Wait a second (Score:5, Insightful)
This may have made it cheaper with this innovation, but what if no one wants it because power from coal is cheaper, more reliable, plentiful, and so on? Cap 'n Trade would change the market (not technology) to make this new technology (and others) more competitive in the marketplace. That's the idea anyway.
Re:Oh Yeah!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
If it really was that good, then why would they talk about it after they prove the concept first...
You're absolutely right. From now on, all scientific research should be kept completely confidential until they have developed a product that is ready to ship. After all, there's no value to scientific knowledge; the only things worth talking about are consumer products.
Stupid git.
Yay, Its time again for Solar technology Bingo! (Score:3, Insightful)
Thats right folks - for every time you see the words "May", "Might Somday", "Could eventually", you get to cover a number.
Bonus if you get to catch one or more instances of "In 5 years", "with continued funding", or "commercial quantities"
It seems the only people making flexibles these days are also selling them for a huge markup, and the technology is a lot less efficient than the monocrystal cells. But at least you can buy it. Today.
I used to actually follow up these articles by contacting the companies involved, and asking when they would be able to sell to me as a consumer. I still cant buy any of their products. Any of them.
Re:I am f tired reading about cheap solar panals (Score:3, Insightful)
Solar panels are nice, but if they require rare metals to function, that's not so nice.
Personally, I'm looking at building a Sterling engine with a parabolic mirror and running water. It may not be the most efficient thing you can build, but it can be built with low tech tools, common materials and will last damn near forever...
Re:Great news! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I am f tired reading about cheap solar panals (Score:3, Insightful)
What about total installation cost? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I am f tired reading about cheap solar panals (Score:4, Insightful)
for last 5 years same shit gets posted over and over again - Cheap solar panals
Umm... No. The price to produce them has gone down and is in fact the lowest it has ever been.
It is just that the demand is outstripping supply [azcentral.com] so economics is causing a price increase.
Re:Low cost until scarcity kicks in.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Moreover, I don't understand the pessimism of:
Leave it to engineers not to consider the ugly realities of supply-and-demand economics.
How else do we consider these ugly realities if not to study available materials, test the limits of what works and what doesn't, build prototypes, publish results, and work towards commercialization... ? Other materials may eventually be used in real devices (either after a period of using the relatively rare Cd and Te, or perhaps well in anticipation of those supply problems). Even if the device, as presented, doesn't mesh up with the realities of current supply-and-demand, it is part of the process of getting from a problem ('we need energy') to economically-viable solutions.
Re:Cadmium ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Because you first get the technology to work with whatever chemicals you can.
Then you find environmentally-safe alternatives.
Re:Wait a second (Score:3, Insightful)
Is it cheaper or not? Make up your mind.
If it's cheaper, it's more competitive. No communist-like government price controls needed.
Depends what you mean by "cheaper." The total costs of existing silicon-based solar panels are FAR lower than the costs of fossil fuel generation. However, the out-of-pocket costs are not, at least not in the short run. Those costs don't take into account the environmental damage of mining/drilling required to collect fossil fuels, the pollution they engender, or the eventual "cost" to society of being dependent on exhaustible resources.
Unfortunately, people (and the corporations that they make) are notoriously bad at accounting for these types of external costs. Cap & trade converts external costs to internal costs, and, unlike command and control regulation, it incentivizes exceeding standards. That way, one company can "go green" and reduce themselves well below the cap, then trade their credits to some other company that has no desire to change what they're doing. It gives people choice, creates competition, and captures external costs.
But I guess some people just HAVE to complain about them pesky humans who want to preserve their habitat. I mean, those environmentalists act like they own the world... or at least are responsible for it.
Re:That title makes me cringe. (Score:2, Insightful)
Actually, the important word in the title is "may".
Bets that patents will be used so you only save 5% over the cost of panels using other technology? Anybody?
Re:Not off to a good start (Score:3, Insightful)
You can start ridding yourself of the marketing speak that's crept into the language by not using it.
Also, using your metric for validating language, 'I can haz' is now acceptable. 12.6 million results confirm it. http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=I+can+haz [google.com]
Re:That title makes me cringe. (Score:2, Insightful)
(Which is a phrase I never understood. If two things are different in the same way, aren't they not different but instead similar?)
nothing == suicide (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'm tired of reading about terrestrial solar... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure. Ridiculous.
Ridiculous, like covering 40% of your average city with ugly, black, heat-island-creating road tar? (Which, btw, could conceivably eliminate your "ugly solar farm" argument entirely [autobloggreen.com])
You don't realize just how much of a city is parking lot until you see it from the air at low altitudes. Google maps helps, but it's just not close because you don't really get the sense of scale. So it's a double-benefit: Parking lots create power, and by putting solar panels above them, keep your car at a comfortable 80-90 instead of an energy-sapping 140.
Re:Great news! (Score:3, Insightful)
Your selection of links suggests an assumption that such a fuel source needs to be fertilized and irrigated. I think most people recognize at this point that such feedstocks won't be economically attractive, and are looking towards things like algal biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol.
What sort of surplus of fertile farmland with ample rain do you think we have sitting around waiting to be farmed? And even algae biodiesel is dwarfed in terms of vehicle miles per acre by solar + EVs (plus, it's basically hydroponics on a massive scale -- i.e., expensive).
People (generally) don't plug their car into the wall (although that will certainly become more common)
That option was the point of my post.