Comments on: Solar Energy Conversion And Storage Breakthrough, New Way To Split Water Molecules Into Hydrogen And Oxygen Created

By: Wes

Wes — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 04:57:00 +0000

We’ve faced the same fears and reservations at every other step in the advance of progressively more potent forms of stored energy.

By: solar thermal manufacturer

solar thermal manufacturer — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 14:56:00 +0000

I strongly believe that this technological breakthrough will definitely lead to more efficient, and less expensive, ways to store solar energy.

By: sola

sola — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:12:00 +0000

This system sounds nice but it is fairly different from PV panels (and their storage batteries).

PV panels directly generate electricity which can be used immediately (or stored in batteries for use later).

This system cracks water and produces hydrogen. So you need fuel cells to generate electricity and a storage system for the hydrogen if you want to use the energy at a later point in time.

Hydrogen is a dangerous material and it needs proper handling. Its storage is currently very expensive (although cheaper ways are under development).

Hydrogen fuel cells are also very expensive today.

All-in-all, I am not sure that this is a viable system at the moment, even if the new water-cracking panels work properly. Even a PV system with professional lithium-ion batteries would be cheaper and easier to handle/maintain than this hydrogen system.

By: sola

sola — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:04:00 +0000

That is about what I have heard for cloudy day performance. (10% of peak)

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:48:00 +0000

Some. Not much.

The last couple days here have been heavily overcast. My panels made enough power to keep things running (refer, computer, stereo) during the daylight hours but they didn’t put anything into the batteries for the dark hours.

I don’t have a way to measure panel output directly, but I would assume I’m getting about 1/10th the amount of sunny performance.

By: _sd_

_sd_ — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:09:00 +0000

‘One of the primary criticisms of solar power is its *inability* to produce electricity when it is very cloudy…’

Nathan, I’m surprised that you reinforce this false information on solar panels, seing as you write for cleantechnica.com… Even other articles on cleantechnica state that solar panels still produce some electricity when it is cloudy. The cited source also incorrectly says they do not produce electricity when it is cloudy. I find it sloppy that both of you reinforce this false information. I hope you correct the article and don’t repeat the error.

Sources :
http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/30/blackest-solar-cell-to-date-absorbs-99-7-of-light/
http://cleantechnica.com/2012/10/12/solar-powered-electronics-more-feasible-with-new-high-voltage-solar-cells/

By: Hans

Hans — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:43:00 +0000

The article suggests that all solar cells need rare earth metals. This is not true. The majority of the solar cells are based on silicon, which is as abundant as sand. Rare earth metals are used for thin film cells (CIS and CdTe) which serve only a small part of the market.