ecogeek.org— The most expensive, carefully designed, and complicated solar panels in the world operate at about 40% efficiency. That means that, for every bit of sunlight that hits the panel, only 40% of it is turned into electricity.
Jan 31, 2008View in Crawl 4
"So while there are electrons pouring out of the nano-antennas when exposed to the sun, there is no way to capture those electrons. But don't worry, those geniuses in Idaho are working on that already."Uh, why are they still talking then when there's science to be done?
Thanks for this, I hate blogspam - fools who want to make $0.02 off of ad revenue by attracting people to their blogs when they can't even write properly.
Nowadays, the best form is to use hydroelectric power stations to accumulate. You need to build two dams, the lower one with enough capacity to hold power use fluctuations. When there is excess power production, pump up the water from the lower dam to the upper one. When there is lack of production, fire up the generators on the main dam.This is actually in common use, at least here in Portugal where we have 30%-40% hydroelectric power.
At reasonable ones, yes. One day we might be, say, building planets, or living to 300. But we can safely say that it won't be for a long time, if ever.
The antenna concept is a very interesting one. Since light is just an EM wave it can be captured by an antenna just like an RF wave. Wireless power from the sun. Too bad we dont have viable wireless power. If only Tesla was still around! The antennas could capture waves all the way through the emitted spectrum. But realistically should stick with visible light (theres alot of it).
shamblaFeb 1, 2008
"So while there are electrons pouring out of the nano-antennas when exposed to the sun, there is no way to capture those electrons. But don't worry, those geniuses in Idaho are working on that already."Uh, why are they still talking then when there's science to be done?
solarwind24Feb 2, 2008
Thanks for this, I hate blogspam - fools who want to make $0.02 off of ad revenue by attracting people to their blogs when they can't even write properly.
sergiocarvalhoFeb 2, 2008
Nowadays, the best form is to use hydroelectric power stations to accumulate. You need to build two dams, the lower one with enough capacity to hold power use fluctuations. When there is excess power production, pump up the water from the lower dam to the upper one. When there is lack of production, fire up the generators on the main dam.This is actually in common use, at least here in Portugal where we have 30%-40% hydroelectric power.
mesm0rizedFeb 2, 2008
With their record profits, Exxon will begin building their giant, interstellar sun blocking disk... then charge us for light.
zuljinFeb 4, 2008
At reasonable ones, yes. One day we might be, say, building planets, or living to 300. But we can safely say that it won't be for a long time, if ever.
kyleainFeb 4, 2008
God is 100% efficient.
Closed AccountFeb 5, 2008
Sorry, total bait and switch, the suns spectrum is only partly infrared and even if these where perfect transducers they would be nowhere near 80% efficient in collecting solar energy. Those of you that DIGGed this do your math.Buried as greentard propaganda........<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_radiation">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_radiation</a>
zerocoverOct 27, 2008
The antenna concept is a very interesting one. Since light is just an EM wave it can be captured by an antenna just like an RF wave. Wireless power from the sun. Too bad we dont have viable wireless power. If only Tesla was still around! The antennas could capture waves all the way through the emitted spectrum. But realistically should stick with visible light (theres alot of it).
bl4ckmanNov 16, 2008
Solar power is indeed great, but you can also take advantage of wind power. To make your own windmill, check out <a class="user" href="http://makeyourownwindmill.net/">http://makeyourownwindmill.net/</a>
bl4ckmanJan 20, 2009
Solar panels are actually not the only way to get free electricity. You can use wind power as well, by building a windmill. Find more info here > <a class="user" href="http://makeyourownwindmill.net">http://makeyourownwindmill.net</a>