The First World, and increasingly the Second and Third Worlds, need electricity, and lots of it. Unfortunately a lot of the world relies on coal to fuel electricity generation, which is relatively cheap, but does generate a lot of pollution.

Sure nuclear energy produces less atmospheric pollution, but there are safety issues and of course there’s the question of how to dispose of the waste. Cleaner sources of energy, such as hydro, wind and wave power, do now supply small amounts of electricity to grids around the world. However, the holy grail of green energy must surely be solar power.

The only problem with solar power is that solar cells based on current technology are very inefficient, being only able to convert around 15% of sunlight into electricity. They’re also very expensive. Basically, it doesn’t make economic sense to install a solar panel at your home; the money saved by generating your own electricity won’t cover the purchase cost of the solar panel over its life.

However, a new solar cell, recently announced by the US Department of Energy (DOE), might change this situation. The DOE says that this new cell, made by Boeing-Spectrolab, can convert 40.7% of sunlight into electricity. The cell uses a system of mirrors and prisms to concentrate the sunlight entering the cell. According to the DOE the cell could make electricity for 8 to 10 cents per KW/hour and the cell itself will probably cost around $3 per watt.

The technology was demonstrated by Boeing-Spectrolab, and verified by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado.

“This solar cell performance is the highest efficiency level any photovoltaic device has ever achieved,” said Dr. David Lillington, president of Spectrolab.

“The terrestrial cell we have developed uses the same technology base as our space-based cells. So, once qualified, they can be manufactured in very high volumes with minimal impact to production flow.”

High efficiency multijunction cells have a significant advantage over conventional silicon cells in concentrator systems because fewer solar cells are required to achieve the same power output. According to Spectrolab, this technology will continue to reduce the cost of generating electricity from solar energy as well as the cost of materials used in high-power space satellites and terrestrial applications.

“These results are particularly encouraging since they were achieved using a new class of metamorphic semiconductor materials, allowing much greater freedom in multijunction cell design for optimal conversion of the solar spectrum,” said Dr. Richard R. King, principal investigator of the high efficiency solar cell research and development effort. “The excellent performance of these materials hints at still higher efficiency in future solar cells.”

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Entry was posted on Friday, December 8th, 2006 at 4:27 pm under Science and technology.

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