- Sep 29, 2004
- 18,656
- 67
- 91
Future of solar power
- Thread starter IHateMyJob2004
- Start date
Solar power will never take on, so they might aswell give up.
You can have all these.
http://www.sierraclub.org/plan...mages/solar_panels.jpg
To heat this.
http://www.cowboycooking.com/outhouse.jpg
You can have all these.
http://www.sierraclub.org/plan...mages/solar_panels.jpg
To heat this.
http://www.cowboycooking.com/outhouse.jpg
- Sep 29, 2004
- 18,656
- 67
- 91
Photosynthesis is 97% efficient. Current solar panel technology is about 10% if memmory serves correct. See how this could turn into something grand....
Current technolgy is between 11-15% efficient. Scientist believe they can acheive about 30% soon using multiple layers.
Solar power could very easily catch on since its so plentiful. Sure, it isn't economically feasible on a large scale now, but it may be in the future.
Solar has many problems, but there won't be one magic bullet for "energy independance." Wind, solar, hydroelectric, bio-based fuels and other technologies will all work together to help solve our problems. There have been many advancements in nanotechnology and absorbtion of sunlight. I think some researchers have gotten 75-90% efficency in absorbing sunlight; however, there are a few more hurdles to be made, one of which notwithstanding is feasibility and availability.
yeah, plants gave up a long time ago. now they're just withering
siemens is working on solar cells using plastic that can be upto 20x cheaper which is like having 20x more efficient. and instead of taking up a bunch of real estate the cells can be stretched and are flexible
a few billion surely would speed up the research
A problem with most high-efficiency solar cells is that they are made from metals that are very rare and expensive. Last time I checked (about five years ago, so things might have changed) the best type would have been impossible to use on a large scale. simply because the amount metal availabe on earth is too limited; unfortunately I do no remember which element is was, probably a rare earch metal such as Scandium.
different types of panels have different efficiencies. the best monocrystalline commercial (i.e. non-NASA) panels get around 25% in optimum conditions, the flexible plastic ones are usually 5-10%
storage...I don't think batteries will ever be optimum, but using solar electrolosis to produce hydrogen, and store it in something like what ovonics has been working on, might be the end answer. it'll get there, just needs time and lots more funding.
storage...I don't think batteries will ever be optimum, but using solar electrolosis to produce hydrogen, and store it in something like what ovonics has been working on, might be the end answer. it'll get there, just needs time and lots more funding.
15 years ago I lived in a house that had a solar panel on its roof. THis was in portland oregon where its cloudy all the time. The solar panel paid the electricity bill.
Individual solar panels for homes is really a great way to go. Pays off in the long term.
Individual solar panels for homes is really a great way to go. Pays off in the long term.
I thought the key to solar lies in the fact super-conductivety would make it cost/effective.
Ultimately Solar would prove out to be the best long term solution though. . .
Ultimately Solar would prove out to be the best long term solution though. . .
Hardly. As the inventors themselves say "Miyasaka says that the next goal is to increase the charging voltage and the charge-discharge capacity to a practically and industrially useful level for applications.".
So, when you find an economical way for roof solar power to store up energy for night time use (seperate from feeding pumps to lift resevour water for later use) you'll have something. There are a lot of companies tackling this (flywheels also look interesting except when the fail
), but it's gonna be a requirement to really solve for solar to work.Bill
Last I checked, there were still plants all over the place :roll:
[Edit]
Sounds like present tense to me...owned!
I believe that there are a good number of companies working with organic solar cells.
It'll make solar cells extremely cheap and extremely easy to create with the printing or spraying techniques.
use the extra solar energy to convert water into hydrogen, then fuel cells can be used when the sun isn't up.
If you don't have enough researchers then you don't have enough money to get the researchers.
Are you sure? If memory serves it is far from that.
# Red light contains about 40 kcal/mole of quanta, therefore 10 moles of quanta would contain 400 kcal of energy.
# One mole of glucose (C6H12O6) is known to contain 686 kcal of stored energy.
# One-sixth mole of glucose can be formed photosynthetically from one mole of CO2. This amount contains 114 kcal of stored energy.
# The maximum efficiency of photosynthetic energy conversion is therefore 114/400, or about 28.5%.
http://www.howe.k12.ok.us/~jimaskew/botzo/botphoto.htm
solar power has a LOT of room for improvement, It will have its places in main stream society, but we will still need other sources. Would be nice to be 100% clean fueled, but with all the researchers in the world, its still quite a ways away. I'd like to say we will have solar powered homes, wind/hydro/tidal powered industries, and hydrogen or some sort of portable power for vehicles, by the year 2030, but thats being generous, I think we might make some early breakthroughs and get it done by 2020.
Also bear in mind today it takes more energy (in terms of manufacturing and gathering the raw resources need) to build solar cells than the usefull output they generate during their life. In effect, like electric cars, you are moving the problem 'elsewhere'.
Bill
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