Solar electricity IS getting more affordable....

Today's post: Wednesday, 2-17-2010

We need an 80% reduction in fossil fuel use by 2050 to avoid the worst global warming effects. And, practically speaking, we need to also double our electricity generation and double the useful work done per unit of electricity & other energy sources as well during that same time to have a decent economy.

At some point, the oil that we’ve been using to power much of our economy will begin to run low enough that our world economy will shrink due to lack of supply or excessive costs or both.

And, once the demand for oil picks up again with the apparent economic recovery or supply begins to plateau or drop, the prices will again go back up. That will cause more hard times economically unless we have enough alternative sources of energy to turn to.

Further, it’s extremely clear that the most supported and economically beneficial solution to add energy that does not use oil nor burn fossil fuels to release more CO2 into air that already has too much is to build massive amounts of new renewable energy production, particularly those that generate electricity & to dramatically increase energy efficiency and reduce the amount of energy that is now wasted.

And, of those, the more important long range solution is to build massive amounts of new renewable energy generation.

Today’s post:

Nanosolar and First Solar already have thin film solar collectors that produce electricity at relatively low cost.

Calisolar Inc of Sunnyvale has a technology to make competitively efficient solar photovoltaic cells from “metallurgical” silicon, a far cheaper and less refined form of silicon.

Then, just today I found out there is a new technology that may make even less expensive thin film solar cells that can be printed in large rolls at low cost similar to what Nanosolar does.

In fact, the materials are cheap enough and the amount of silicon is so much reduced that these thin film solar cells may be even more cost effective than those made now by Nanosolar and First Solar – presuming the technology and be successfully scaled up to large scale manufacturing and production.

Since Nanosolar and First Solar already can make electricity almost as cost efficiently as coal which still has not had its true environmental impact costs added to it, this new technology could really make a big jump in solar produced electricity economically doable soon by making solar electricity cost less than electricity created by burning coal.

Online science news outfit LiveScience.com had a story they published yesterday, Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010 which they titled”

“Cheap Solar Cell Could Be Incorporated Into Clothing”

That seems to be true and is an interesting thought to anyone who has had the batteries on their cell phone run low at an inconvenient time

But the real news in the first sentence in the story.:

“A new solar cell can produce the same amount of energy as the best conventional solar panels while using less expensive material.”

Since this new kind of thin film solar is so flexible and stands up to rough handling so well, it could even cost less to install in addition to being cheaper than other solar cells!

They predict that you can mistreat it badly “even perforate it, shoot holes in it with a gun, and it'd still operate, whereas normal crystalline silicon would just shatter like glass," said researcher Harry Atwater, an applied physicist from CalTech.

Harry Atwater and his colleagues use only one percent of crystalline silicon, which they grow as rods.

Each rod is about the width of a human hair. Then they arrange the rods vertically like a miniature forest.

Incoming light bounces back and forth between rods until it gets absorbed. They add particles of alumina which scatter light so the rods absorb more to help ensure this happens. They then embed everything in a layer of transparent silicone rubber, which makes the overall thin film solar end- result flexible.

They apparently tested their new thin films as absorbing up to 85 % of the usable sunlight, comparable to what conventional solar cells achieve.

The solar energy converted to electricity in the thin film also tested to be about 95 %, not only comparable to the highest quality solar cells but mostly above that of other thin film solar cells.

Perhaps best of all, Atwater foresees this kind of thin film solar will be cheaper than conventional solar cells "not only because we've reduced the amount of crystalline silicon used, but the way we make it bypasses two or three expensive and energy-consuming steps."

Since it uses far less energy to make it, this new kind of thin film solar should be far cheaper to set up production for AND to then produce.

Atwater also believes this kind of thin film solar material can be made roll to roll just like printing a newspaper and very similar to Nanosolar does.

This technology isn’t live yet but very well may be soon because Atwater also said, "We're actively pursuing commercialization opportunities at the moment."

Atwater and his colleagues covered their work online February 14, 2010 in the journal “Nature Materials. “ The original story was titled: “Cheap Solar Cell Could Be Incorporated Into Clothing.” This article may have more details.

And those interested in helping commercialize this new technology can likely contact the licensing office at CalTech (California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA) or Harry Atwater there or both depending on how it’s being handled.

The wheels are turning and in the right direction. Soon solar electricity will cost less to generate than by burning coal or natural gas. Once that begins to happen, the market place will begin to do the job for us politicians unable to agree have not quite been able to do.