Ingenious Solar Cell Advancements

Solar power provides exciting possibilities to energy consumers. A free, abundant and renewable resource, solar energy gives communities clean ways to protect both energy security and the environment. Switching to sun power lowers dependence on variable foreign oil markets by offering a non-polluting energy choice. Sun power is converted to electricity through solar photovoltaics (PVs). Improving photovoltaic technology is an important step in making solar energy affordable, efficient, and reliable. Discover ten inventive PV technologies that are strengthening solar markets.

Intermediate Band Solar Arrays:
 With efficiencies reaching up to 60%, intermediate band solar arrays (IBSAs) are created using silicon nanowires. Increased control over crystal orientation and faceting helps improve electronic coupling to boost PV efficiency.

Multijunction Wide-Array Solar Cells:
Multijunction wide-array solar cells join the strengths of crystalline silicon and thin-film technologies. The new tandem solar cells are efficient, easy to produce and low-cost.

Hydrogenated Nanocrystalline Synthesis:
Advances in hydrogenated nanocrystalline synthesis use hot-carrier devices to improve efficiency. New silicon films promote absorption, deter degradation, and lengthen product life.

Highly Efficient Thin-Film Solar Cells:
Creating very thin-film crystalline solar cells helps to reduce the cost of PV modules. By upholding efficiency standards when minimizing material needs, PV technology can be cost-competitive.

Tin Sulfide Advancements:
Tin sulfide provides thin-film PV cells with increased absorption capabilities. This helps make them more efficient. These cells are economical to produce because both tin and sulfur are common materials. Their low refining temperatures mean they will have a decreased cost of production.

Earth Abundant Materials:
Using materials that are prevalent in the environment to create a wide variety of photovoltaics helps to drive down production costs and make PVs more affordable for consumers. Incorporating scalable production process to manufacture PVs from commonly found materials also makes PV markets competitive.

Copper Nitrate Absorbers:
Copper and nitrate have stable structures that are good matches for PV absorbers. With continued research into crystal structures and properties, copper nitrate absorbers are expected to give photovoltaics increased energy efficiencies.

Copper Oxysulfide Absorbers:
Research in this area seeks to develop solar absorbers with energy efficiencies above 20%. Pairing copper oxide with bands of sulfur, zinc and magnesium in solar absorbers creates a structure that can efficiently capture sunlight.

Breaking the Shockley-Queisser Limit:
The Shockley-Queisser Limit is the supposed maximum efficiency of a solar cell that collects power using a p-n junction. Attempts to break the Shockley-Queisser Limit involve developing a single-junction cell that can interact with a larger part of the solar spectrum. These efforts seek to transform lower-energy photons into higher-energy photons, thereby generating stronger currents and voltages. Photoconversion efforts are geared towards amorphous silicon and organic material photovoltaics.

Cadmium Selenide and Silicon Cell Developments:
Research in cadmium selenide (CdSe) and Silicon (Si) cell developments focuses on creating high voltage in wide band-gap circuits between the top and bottom cells. CdSe will be used as the top cell and Si will be used as the bottom cell to achieve an efficiency over 25% and a voltage over 1.1 V for a high-performing, highly efficient solar cell.

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Ways You Can Conserve Energy During The Summer

Summer is the perfect season for energy savings. With the warm weather and longer hours, you can take advantage and use much less energy than you will in the other seasons. This article outlines 5 ways that you can conserve energy during the summer months.

Run the air-con less:
Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean you need to run the air-conditioner 24/7 in order to be comfortable. Save the air-con for the really hot days when a fan just won’t do. On warm days a fan will often suffice, especially if just one or two people are home. There is no need to cool an entire home when only one room is being occupied. Also make sure that you are not always blasting the air-conditioner. You might be used to it creating a slight chill in the house, but you don’t need it to be that cold inside. Lowering the setting on the air-conditioner will save you energy.

Open the curtains:
During the longer months you will not have to turn on lights very often. If you tend to keep your curtains closed, it might seem darker than it is causing you to turn on lights when they’re really not needed. Open the curtains and let the light in. If you still have thick, dark coloured curtains up from the cold winter months, take them down and replace them with lighter ones that will allow in more natural light. This will also allow the breeze to flow through more easily when the windows are open, helping to cool your home.

Take advantage of public pools:
If you have a pool, you know it takes a lot of time and energy to fill it and keep it running. Just because you have a pool doesn’t mean that you have to use it all the time. If you only plan on swimming for a day, it’s better to go to a public pool.

Bake less often:
Baking in the summer is counterproductive. You don’t want to do anything that will make your home warmer than it already is. If you bake during the warm months, you will heat your home and then run your air-conditioner to cool the house down again. The less you use the oven and stove during the warmer months the more energy you will save. In the summer most people prefer light and cool meals. Those kind of meals will require less of the oven and stove, which in turn will save you energy.

Dry laundry outdoors:
You’re probably not going to wash your laundry by hand, but you can certainly hang your washed laundry outside to dry. Take advantage of the warm, sunny days to do laundry, so that you can avoid using the dryer.

 Summer is the perfect season for saving energy. You don’t need to heat your home, use the lights as much, or even use the oven as much as you do during the rest of the year.

Developing solar power resources is an important component of any contemporary energy plan. Because solar energy is free, clean, renewable and domestically available, it offers many benefits to consumers, governments and the environment. Meeting energy needs with solar power reduces exposure to unstable foreign oil markets, curbs dependence on climate-harming fossil fuels and lowers utility bills. Solar innovation helps create competitive renewable energy markets. Discover three groundbreaking strategies that are helping to make solar power an everyday reality.

Lower the costs of non-hardware components.
Over 60% of the costs of implementing a solar power system comes from non-hardware components. Strategies focused on the acquisition, financing, contracting, permitting, connection, inspection, installation, performance, operation and maintenance of solar photovoltaics (PVs) aim to reduce the cost of alternative energy systems. Making cost-benefit information transparent, as well as educating solar professionals, is an important step in promoting consumer confidence. As consumer confidence rises, more people are apt to embrace solar-electric systems. Financing solutions include working with lenders, businesses and households on financial models, leasing agreements and purchase agreements.

Costs of installing PV systems can rack up at many levels of government. Streamlining small-scale and large-scale compliance and proper permitting at local, state and federal levels is an important solar strategy. Curbing resources and time by developing efficient processes helps saves consumers money. Efficiency can also be improved by training workers on better procedures. Enhancements in solar technology help increase the dependability and function of PV systems. Maintenance and operations strategies include research and development in the planning, designing and monitoring of solar photovoltaic systems.

Create a solar-friendly environment.
Creating a climate in which solar innovation can thrive is important for bringing efficient, effective and affordable sun-driven technology to life. Tactics in this area include removing restrictions in connection and metering, creating renewable portfolio standards and eliminating obstructive ordinances and codes. Attracting investors to solar projects is also a crucial component of creating a competitive renewable energy environment. Increasing access to capital while reducing risks through special entities like real estate investment trusts (REITS), master limited partnerships (MLPs) and crowd funding helps to grow strong energy markets.

Foster business and market growth.
Creating a stable marketplace capable of efficiently deploying solar resources is critical to developing a sustainable solar future. Markets can strengthened through innovations in business and maturity. Efficient processes, standards and practices are paramount to strong business models. Using analytical, data-flush tools to assess the successes and areas of improvement for solar technology is also important for business innovation. Both emerging and existing solar markets benefit from programs designed to support and nurture solar energy. Continuing to promote solar research, design, engineering, sourcing, production and installation helps create competitive solar industries.

Markets also thrive when households and businesses can easily find, choose and purchase quality solar products. Steps to facilitate online solar processes, quoting and purchasing help generate highly efficient marketplaces. By fostering business growth and nurturing markets, industries can more readily bring affordable, high-performing products to consumers while being global solar power players.

Blue Pacific Solar is an industry leader in solar sales and support.

The demand for alternative energy sources has skyrocketed in a world with ever-rising energy needs and ever-diminishing nonrenewable energy sources. In contrast to the environmental damages caused by the extraction and burning of dwindling fossil fuels, alternative energy sources promise renewable and often inexhaustible energy with little to no lasting environmental damage. Today, solar power offers one of the greatest opportunities to turn away from inefficient fossil fuel dependence.

The sun has powered the world’s ocean currents, winds, rain, and all the earth’s biomass growth for millenniums. Today, with the growth of modern technology and scientific progress, humans are able to utilize and capture more power from the sun than ever before. There are two significant ways this captured solar power can be utilized: electricity and heat energy.

For both electricity and heat energy, capturing solar power is made possible by employing solar cells in either flat plate receivers that collect incidental solar intensity and can operate in diffuse light, or by means of concentrators that collect higher solar intensities but operate poorly in diffuse light. Flat plate receivers are more commonly known and are often used by homeowners and small businesses. These are the receivers that have cells fixed across a horizontal plane and take the shape of a rectangular prism. A flat plate solar system will respond to radiant energy regardless of cloud cover, but operate overall at a lower intensity than concentrator systems. Concentrators are more commonly used in large energy production, as in town electrical production. These systems operate by focusing parallel beams of light onto a line (parabolic trough) or a point (parabolic dish). Concentrators reduce the amount and size of the cells needed as each cell’s efficiency is improved under concentrated light, but because of this desired concentration they fail to produce energy in heavy cloud cover.

Both these methods utilize solar photovoltaic power (solar) technology, in which the sun’s radiation is directly converted to electricity through solar cell arrays. The word photovoltaic refers to this turning photo (light) into voltaic (electrical current). In PV technology solar cells are constructed of semiconducting materials, and when the cell’s atoms are hit by light they absorb photons which disturb the atom’s electrons. These electrons are then ‘knocked loose’; a friction that creates an electrical current. Importantly, the solar cells are converters, not sources nor storehouses of energy. Also, for every electron knocked loose, another flows back into the cell, making solar cells a constantly renewable energy source. The solar cell acts as a part of a circuit; the electrons travel a continual path, receiving energy from the sun and transferring it to the load before returning to act again as a receiver. The electrical current created by the knocked electrons is transferred to an inverter where it is converted from direct current (DC) electricity to alternating current (AC) electricity. Inverters produce power at desired voltages for appropriate use.

RV Solar Power Kit off grid solar kits could be the answer to your RV electrical requirements. There are now millions of people who choose to use solar power to supply their electricity for their homes, and now many people  are fitting a RV solar power kit to their RV’s. Charge your batteries while enjoying the peaceful tranquility of a remote campsite or power up at a tailgate party. SunWize makes one of the best RV solar kits on the market today. SunWize RV Solar Power Systems are designed for the most rugged climates and can withstand the summer desert heat and winter hail and still produce power day in and day out; year in and year out. [continue reading…]

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new method of collecting solar energy to improve system efficiency. This technique incorporates both a traditional photovoltaic (PV or Solar) cell and a high-temperature material, which is heated directly by sunlight and the radiated infrared energy is collected by the traditional system. This process allows the usage of light wavelengths that are ignored as unusable and may also improve energy storage for later use. [continue reading…]

With the recent furor surrounding the impending price rises in energy bills, it’s no wonder that people far and wide are looking into alternative methods of home energy. While many people will look into the possibility of changing suppliers in order to find a better deal, there will be just as many who expect a similar cost and service from similar suppliers and who, therefore, feel that there is something to gain from going green. [continue reading…]

As solar energy becomes a popular way to meet power needs, more efficient ways of harnessing the sun’s energy are being developed for solar photovoltaics (PVs). Solar cells capture energy in the sunlight and transform it into electricity for residential, business and industrial use. Because solar energy is clean, free, renewable and indigenous, it is a crucial component of major energy plans. Developing better technology to make high-quality solar energy affordable for consumers improves domestic energy security and increases competitiveness in global markets. Take a look at five cutting-edge photovoltaic technologies that are keeping sun power in the energy spotlight.

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Like most technologies nowadays, solar energy technology is advancing at a rapid rate. A recent report published by PV magazine projects solar to surpass gas and 2X Nuclear power by 2016. While solar energy has the potential to transform the energy sector, many consumers (even those who currently rely on solar energy) are unaware of what advancements have been made, and what advancements are expected in the future. As new solar technology hits the market, it is important for consumers to understand what these technologies mean to them. In this article, we will give a brief overview of the four generations of solar technology, and what these advancements mean for energy consumers. [continue reading…]

In many communities throughout the world, smart meters are being installed with absolutely no fanfare. According to a recent news story in the Chicago Tribune, “the devices are capable of using wireless signals to relay detailed information about an individual consumer’s power consumption.” Moreover, they’re designed to be highly efficient. The utility companies as well as many cities and towns see the smart readers as a major upgrade to meters of the past used to report on energy use for each household. In Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, some people are so opposed to the mandatory installation of smart meters that one mother was led away in handcuffs for her opposition. [continue reading…]

Solar _panels for electricity and hot water are nothing new but this article will look at numerous other options available using the sun’s energy. Let’s start with solar shingles. They are both a roof shingle and a solar panels each shingle being a mini electrical generator that will produce electricity with an output of approximately 600 watts per 100 square feet. Dow Chemical came up with the idea. These shingles can qualify for a Federal Tax Credit, however, expect to spend well over $10,000 for your new roof. [continue reading…]