ecogeek.org — Silicon is pretty expensive these days, and traditional solar panels need a lot of it to convert light to energy. But two of the great opportunities for expansion in solar power have been exploited in a new breed of solar panel that's both cheaper to make and more effective.
Jun 2, 2007 View in Crawl 4
dattawayJun 2, 2007
Looks like more fun to clean out the leaves than the gutters.
hanandaJun 2, 2007
Like the commenters on the article said, I can't wait to see what winter will do to these things.Wonder if they'll come out with a heated model.Also, wouldn't high winds just rip something like that off a roof?
jdonsonJun 2, 2007
The problem with plastic based reflective materials is the dynamic change in it's resilience. As a plastic material is left out in the sun, especially the more flexible plastics, the material is weakened when it gets hit with UV light that is part and parcel with sunlight. What good is it to shell out a wad of money to get a nice solar panel paint if after a couple of years, it flakes off and is essentially worthless?I'm dealing with the same problem for my undergrad research project redesigning the reflective surface of a sterling engine solar concentrator. When it was first built, they used mylar films on top of a plastic substrate stretched over aluminum rings and drew a vacuum underneath to get a paraboloid curvature. Unfortunately, the films were both plastic and since they had to sit out in the sun, the UV light broke down the plastic on a molecular level. It's now about as brittle as tissue paper. We're now pursuing shaped metal surfaces in order to have a more durable, long lasting surface.Just a little first hand story about why cheap solar tech is not as easy as it seems.
edd17Jun 2, 2007
i hate that they never talk about actual price
placebo10Jun 2, 2007
Just remember, the more mirrors, lenses, or what have you, that you use to focus sunlight onto a solar cell, the more heat you generate onto the solar cell. Heat is a PV cell enemy; as it tends to shorten the lifespan of the cell. This is one of the current problems with PV cells. Also, silicon used in PV cells is not expensive because it's hard to make pure silicon. It's expensive because it's hard to make silicon with a certain level of "impure" silicon. (i.e. free charge carriers.) fwiw.
dazman05Jun 3, 2007
Might as well buy these instead <a class="user" href="http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1865651.htm">http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1865651.htm</a>Daz
brownb2Jun 3, 2007
Ignore me
leviasayOct 30, 2007
i just found out about Pure Energy Solar. these guys do really great work installing home solar energy systems. they are super cool guys and have a lot of great information on their website, <a class="user" href="http://www.pureenergysolar.net.">http://www.pureenergysolar.net.</a> if you are looking for someone to put together a solar electric system for you, or just need them to answer your questions, give them a call at 1-352-377-6527.
neoniJul 6, 2009
Solar power is much cheaper today. Almost everybody who owns a house can use it. Germany is one the countries which are leaders in solar power: <a class="user" href="http://www.gelsenpv.de">http://www.gelsenpv.de</a> for more information.