Solar Energy Publication News

It may not be long from now when solar energy becomes a norm. There is now a deep belief among experts that within a few years time, solar power will be in sufficient demand that the cost will be reduced to the degree that it is inexpensive enough to undercut the costs of oil-generated electricity.

Earlier predictions that it will still happen in a decade may no longer be true. The anger generated by the recent prices in oil and its vulnerability to market forces and other events may have already been enough to polarized people, governments and scientific communities into seriously seeking a reliable alternative energy source.

There is no source more reliable than the sun. Even today homes that uses its power not only benefit from the silent, energy generating, inexhaustible power of the sun, they also spike up the prices of their homes. Homeowners who have solar powered homes are reimbursed for the surplus power they supply to the power grid.

Presently, heliostats, photovoltaic cells and plate collectors are being used to collect the energy by focusing these panels towards the sun or constructing and installing the panel’s on spots where the sun shines most. Development in technology as we all know often has a snowball effect. It never stops rediscovering and reinventing that the pace of development could be surprisingly rapid.

Today, a polymer foil, thin as a sheet of paper and lighter by 200 times in comparison with the regular glass collecting plates, are being developed. Odds are, these new inventions and discoveries could well have a positive potential for mass production. Before, the glass-based materials used for heat collection need expensive substrates and require additional support for mounting due to its weight. The polymer foil, being very light could now be attached even to the walls of a structure.

So confident are scientists in the development of this technology that while the polymer foil is being developed, a plastic solar cell, based on nano technology is gaining breakthroughs. This plastic material can collect the power of the sun even on a cloudy day through harnessing the infrared rays is believed to be five times more efficient than current technology.

While plastic materials for harnessing the power of the sun are not novel, it is only recently this plastic composite could harvest the infrared portion. Before, only the visible rays are generated, the infrared part, which is half of the power of the sun, is invisible.

Currently, the best plastic solar cells could only harness 6% of the suns energy, with further study and development, this new plastic solar cells are expected to harness 30% of the suns solar power.

Scientists and researchers both agree solar farms are going to be serving our energy requirements and costs of power will drop. Today the price of solar powered energy is approximately three to four times per kilowatt hour compared with conventional electricity. That price could be altered dramatically though the development of the existing technology and recent discoveries.

The roller pressed flexible plastic materials and the polymer foil are only two of the best hopes in coming to a cleaner, greener and safer environment that ultimately could free the earth from our dependency on the ever-depleting supply of oil.

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