New MIT Solar Panels: Organic solar concentrators cost effective
By Nick July 11, 2008
MIT has just announced a new breakthrough when it comes to solar panels that should be able to make them much more cost effective as energy sources in about three years. Awesome.
So the technology that has been developed? MIT coined the tech development as “organic solar concentrators.” What they do is collect light over a large window, then direct the light toward the edges for more focused (and evidently better) electricity production. Using a concoction of dyes, the light can be directed about 10X farther with MIT’s concentrators to solar cells that can increase electrical power production “by a factor of 40.” All the while, this technology keeps the glass completely transparent as well.
That’s not all either:
- Solar concentrators could be added to pre-existing solar panels for minimal cost and increase production by 50%
- As mentioned, the technology could be used in windows on buildings because of its transparency
- The technology should arrive to market in the next 3 years under a new company formed by some founders Covalent Solar
So someone please remind me to seek out the Covalent Solar IPO when they hopefully go public at tthat time.
Via and more coverage: Wired, Planetsave
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