National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Director Dan Arvizu recently gave a keynote speech during the 2013 International Renewable Energy Conference (part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week), which I was lucky enough to attend*. His speech covered a large variety of cleantech topics, and most of the points he made have been covered extensively here on … [continued]
Another month, another solar record. Here’s a repost from Solar Love regarding the world’s latest solar cell efficiency record: No, this is not a record for all types of solar cells. As you can see in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) chart below, multi-junction solar cells take top spot … [continued]
I’ve got a problem. I want you to read every important cleantech story that I see, or at least the headline or summary. (Yep, I’m one of those guys — be careful if you go to see a movie with me that I love.) This root problem creates a couple … [continued]
A new world efficiency record has been set for thin film silicon solar cells by EPFL’s Institute of Micro-engineering, reaching an impressive 10.7%. That is a significant increase in efficiency from the previous record of 10.1%. The new single-junction microcrystalline silicon solar cell had it’s record independently verified by the … [continued]
The new 44% commercial-ready CPV efficiency record bests the previous record of 43.5% that Solar Junction set back in April, marking another milestone in what’s been an eventful year for the emerging US CPV manufacturer, as well as CPV technology in general. […]
A new solar photovoltaic conversion efficiency record for solar cells made of amorphous and monocrystalline silicon of 21.4% was recently set, thanks to the innovations of researchers at EPFL’s Institute of Microengineering in Neuchatel. The research team, led by professor Christophe Ballif, director of the Photovoltaics Laboratory (PVlab), recently … [continued]
IBM Materials Science researchers, in conjunction with partners from Solar Frontier, Tokyo Ohka Kogyo (TOK) and DelSolar, have developed an efficient and affordable PV cell that is made from abundant natural materials, and has already crushed the world record for PV solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency using earth-abundant materials. The team … [continued]
Woops, another day, another two solar records (not just the MiaSole solar record just announced). Researchers in the University of Florida’s physics department have reportedly set a new record for graphene solar cell efficiency. Here’s more from the University of Florida: Graphene solar cells are one of industry’s great hopes … [continued]
Solar cells are awesome, and LEDs are awesome, but what about solar cells that also act like LEDs — double awesome? It seems so, and perhaps most notably, such solar cells also have increased voltage. The purpose of solar cells is to capture as much light as possible and … [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]
