Solar Panels Work in Cloudy Cities - A Great Breakthrough In Solar Energy

by Robert Wilkinson

Good news on the solar energy front! Organic photovoltaics generate power even in limited lighting.

From an Atlantic Cities article by Jenny Xie titled "Turns Out, You Can Make Solar Panels Work in Cloudy Cities," we read that

... in recent years, scientists have figured out ways to make them more useful for perpetually gloomy cities like London and Seattle. The solution comes down to organic photovoltaics. Unlike traditional solar panels, made of silicon, OPV cells are made of organic semiconductors, which can be 3D-printed or coated over large areas....

The promise of OPV's isn’t necessarily that they'd produce more power than traditional panels, but that they're more efficient at generating power from limited lighting.

If you want to know the whole scoop, please go on over and read Jenny’s article. Basically, traditional solar tech based in silicon cells require direct sun, but newer technologies like OPV generate power regardless of what angle the sun is at. We are also told the efficiency of OPV technology has almost tripled in the past 6 years, and is close to reaching parity with conventional silicon panels.

Even though the industry stacks the deck against lower output over long periods of time versus higher output over short periods, eventually someone will figure out how to combine the two technologies and we’ll reach a whole new level of solar output. Then costs will go down as efficiency goes up, and we’ll have endless power.

Eventually the capitalists will realize they cannot stop people from putting solar technology on their roofs and lowering costs while decreasing the use of old tech fossil fuels. While we may still have to run our vehicles on oil and gas for a while, we will stop heating and cooling our homes and getting hot water using fossil fuels. That will change everything forever. Oil is obsolete!

© Copyright 2014 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Trinity]

That's fab news! Coming from someone who has been living with stand alone solar power for 7 years. We get so much sun down here, but I do get slightly anxious after a run of overcast days.

[caliban]

Here comes the sun, doo da doo da. Here comes the sun. And I-I say it's alright.