Ever since Edmund Becquerel first explored the concept in 1838,
humanity has been hyped up and let down-over and over again-concerning
the opportunity to harvest cheap energy from our Sun. Each time, some
group of researchers boasts the claim that they have found the secret to
producing efficient solar cells, on the cheap, only to watch their
claims vanish into the obscurity that has become the history of solar
energy. We got our hopes up a few years back, when we started seeing
panels going up in our neighbors yards, but when we learned the initial
cost of these arrays, we quickly dismissed it as an expense that would
not effectively cover the associated costs. Each wave of the evolution
of solar power has swept over us in much the same fashion.
When we first heard about solar paint, we collectively jumped out of our seats! The idea of being able to coat any surface with a photo-voltaic film, was just the relief that a struggling group of supporters needed. Dave Levitan said, in his January 2012 article for EnergyWise, "The one-coat paint, made with semiconducting nanoparticles, achieved a one percent conversion rate when tested using artificial sunlight." Though this technology has not been entirely shelved, we know to not expect further developments in the near future.
Despite all the hurdles that this technology had been made to overcome, all was not lost. In 1982, researchers constructed an outside-the-box solution to large-scale solar power generation, in Barstow, California, by using a field of mirrors to focus large amounts of sunlight into a single point. This sunlight can, then, be used to superheat water, convert it into steam, and use the energy of that expansion to turn a large generator.
As the global community comes around to the realization that our current energy solutions have created huge environmental problems, solar energy is becoming an increasingly hot topic. The demand for clean energy production is now creating one of fastest growing fields of research since nuclear energy took the spotlight in the 40's and 50's. It is hard to say that any of this will produce results, and we do not have time to wait for the next generation of talent to look at this problem. We can only hope that we see a solar breakthrough soon, and if not solar, then what other direction will our search for clean energy take us?
When we first heard about solar paint, we collectively jumped out of our seats! The idea of being able to coat any surface with a photo-voltaic film, was just the relief that a struggling group of supporters needed. Dave Levitan said, in his January 2012 article for EnergyWise, "The one-coat paint, made with semiconducting nanoparticles, achieved a one percent conversion rate when tested using artificial sunlight." Though this technology has not been entirely shelved, we know to not expect further developments in the near future.
Despite all the hurdles that this technology had been made to overcome, all was not lost. In 1982, researchers constructed an outside-the-box solution to large-scale solar power generation, in Barstow, California, by using a field of mirrors to focus large amounts of sunlight into a single point. This sunlight can, then, be used to superheat water, convert it into steam, and use the energy of that expansion to turn a large generator.
As the global community comes around to the realization that our current energy solutions have created huge environmental problems, solar energy is becoming an increasingly hot topic. The demand for clean energy production is now creating one of fastest growing fields of research since nuclear energy took the spotlight in the 40's and 50's. It is hard to say that any of this will produce results, and we do not have time to wait for the next generation of talent to look at this problem. We can only hope that we see a solar breakthrough soon, and if not solar, then what other direction will our search for clean energy take us?
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