DennisRayWingo
Sorry but Dr. Nevell Marzwell of NASA JPL created a 63.5% efficient non concentrating "rainbow" cell in the year 2000.
CzechsterMarek
It is just a matter of time when we will be able to shut down fossil fuel plants and breath a little easier.
Eureka...Kablaammm!
I believe there are other CPV technologies that have broken the 50% efficiency mark some time ago, outside of capturing heat. I.e. PV energy, ignoring heat energy harvesting.
Pea Gea
yea..thx for rubbing it in....I tried to patent this idea almost 15 years ago....too late ...filed already in 97 ish...I hope they keep bringing the cost down....tired of the world burning dinosaurs.
Augure
Solar Cell news, like battery research is BS. Many of the pseudo "breakthrough" we hear about are numerous repeats of the same breakthrough made 10 years before and 20 years before that.
When you understand how the world economic system, based at it's root on the exploitation of resources, you understand that we'll see these pseudo advance in research for a long time until a war settles it all.
Augure
@DennisRayWingo not quite, Dr. N. Marzwell worked on space based solar panel for satellites and stations. Conditions in space being of course way different from Earth since there's no atmosphere.
Daishi
@DennisRayWingo The highest recorded/proven record I know of even using concentrator cells is 46%. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory keeps a running record of these that can be seen here: http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/images/efficiency_chart.jpg
I'm going to go ahead and file your "63.5% efficient non concentrating" claim under "yeah right, prove it".
If NASA JPL did in fact do this the NREL has no record of it but you do? Let me guess, agents in black helicopters swept in and stole the research to protect the illuminati coal conspiracy?
JoelF
This is not a world record "achieved without the use of concentrators." The record multi-junction solar cell, measured WITHOUT the use of concentrators, was developed by Soitec and CEA-Leti, France, converting 46 % of the solar light into electrical energy. Surprisingly, concentrators actually reduce efficiency due to optical losses when light is reflected or refracted.
There's a lot of confusion between conversion efficiency and cost efficiency. In an attempt to increase that latter (at the expense of the former) concentrators are used, with mixed results.
christopher
Cool tech.
Earths population will *quadruple* in our lifetime.
Good luck if you think any of this fun solar stuff will make a noticeable difference! You would have to convert 70+ million people over to 100% solar every year, just to break even - good luck with the remaining 7.x+ billion rest of us.
sidmehta
@christopher you don't understand population growth. At all. The population is expected to peak and then fall slightly.