How Low (& How Green) Can Solar Cells Go? The Magic Word Is Kerfless
The silicon wafer NexWafe says buh-bye kerf, hello low-cost, lightweight, flexible solar cells.
The silicon wafer NexWafe says buh-bye kerf, hello low-cost, lightweight, flexible solar cells.
The long wait for low-cost, high-performance perovskite solar cells is coming to a close. Now the fun begins.
The Chinese solar company Suntech has roared back to life with a new silicon solar cell efficiency record, just two months after setting a previous record.
Perovskite solar cells could upend the global solar market, by nudging silicon solar cells out of the efficiency doldrums.
Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, the founders of Solar Impulse have successfully arrived in our nation’s capital with their solar-powered airplane. The welcoming community waiting on the tarmac when they landed gave them a flag. Bertrand and André have given a Clean Generation flag to each community in which they landed that was a scheduled stopover. This … [continued]
Researchers at Fraunhofer ISE of Germany and Aalto University of Finland have developed a black silicon solar cell that achieved 18.7% efficiency. This is the highest efficiency reported for a black silicon solar cell technology. 18.7% efficiency means a power-to-size ratio of 187 watts per square meter of these cells. 7,000 … [continued]
The following is an excellent short history of solar panels and solar power from guest contributor Dane Cross. I think you’ll thoroughly enjoy it — I did! What do Archimedes, Einstein and Arnold Schwarzenegger all have in common? Answer: They’ve all contributed to the development of solar power. From the 3rd Century BC when Archimedes … [continued]
Now that Snooki has introduced the TV-viewing world to the glories of spray-on tans, the concept of spray-on solar power doesn’t seem so far fetched. In the solar powered world of the future you can spray-paint energy producing photovoltaic cells onto just about any surface, including windows. That’s what a … [continued]
Innovalight of Sunnyvale, California has just won a key patent for a new process that will significantly lower the cost of manufacturing silicon solar cells. Working with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the company has come up with a way to apply silicon ink to silicon wafers without using … [continued]