Say Anything Blog

That was great, the old guy wandering through what looked like a solar power tinkerers dream. 

I think the photovoltaic is coming down in cost but still nowhere near feasible for ‘real’ power generation.  Silicon wafer work is just so energy intensive.  The mirrored system wasn’t too huge to be unwieldy, interesting stuff.  I’d like to see some of that same passive/semi-passive approach to heating for some industry applications, coal to liquids becomes more attractive.

There is some work going on replacing the wafers with polymer semiconductors.  That stuff you can mass produce gobs for pennies.

There have been strides.  Per this news report, the large panels in the background of the subject photo can produce one Watt of energy from the sun.  The small panel he cradles in his hand produces 1500 Watts.

Not too shabby.

I also understand they are working on photovoltaics that don’t just operate at one wavelength, but several wavelengths, having a stacking effect on the cell’s efficiency.  Moreover, folding in recent developments in nanotechnology promise to make solar cells competitive with other forms of energy production (assuming steady sunlight)

Again, while not a panacea, improved solar, wedded to wind and Passive Design can greatly reduce the burden on the national power grid.

Passive Solar Design, if you’ll recall, is kind of like an ecological Feng Shui, utilizing structural materials,

orientation to the sun and berming,

conduction and convection

to work with the forces of nature as opposed to against them.

When I hit the Lottery, building such a home is one of the things I have on my Bucket List.

...for great justice