New solar panel technology

[Frank Booth]

Imagine a skyscraper that is a solar panel in itself, producing electricity 10 times more efficiently then current solar panels.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7501476.stm

A new way of capturing the energy from the Sun could increase the power generated by solar panels tenfold, a team of American scientists has shown.

The MIT team believes it could improve existing panels by 50%.

 

[Black cat]

Yeah, the problem with the current solar pannels are that they don't meet their payback by the end of their life-time, costing you more money then you would have spent anyway.

 

[JohnT]

we need a moon base with giant solar plant. No atmosphere up there so solar energy is VERY POWERFUL. then beam the energy back to a powerstation in the form of microwaves. Very efficient and just friken cool!

 

[JohnT]

You know you want to say "Moonbase Alpha prepaing for microwave energy transmission, over"

 

[Zopy]

You know you want to say "Moonbase Alpha prepaing for microwave energy transmission, over"

You're right, that would be awesome.

 

[Frank Booth]

we need a moon base with giant solar plant. No atmosphere up there so solar energy is VERY POWERFUL. then beam the energy back to a powerstation in the form of microwaves. Very efficient and just friken cool!

There was a plan to put solar panel in space and transmit the energy to Earth through ultra violet transmissions. Forget which magazine it was in. A lot of energy makes it through though, most not in the visible spectrum i think. We bounce back a ton of energy.

 

[Black cat]

Microwaves? You mean fry anything that contains water particles in it's path?
Only problem with that is that everyone nearby to the receiver would hi-jack the signal to cook their meals. UV sounds the way to go, only mildly blinding anyone foolish enough to dare gaze upon Moon Base Alpha!

 

[Frank Booth]

Microwaves? You mean fry anything that contains water particles in it's path?
Only problem with that is that everyone nearby to the receiver would hi-jack the signal to cook their meals. UV sounds the way to go, only mildly blinding anyone foolish enough to dare gaze upon Moon Base Alpha!

Not Microwaves, that would waste the energy heating the water molecules in the atmosphere. UV penetrates the clouds easily. The angle between the two hydrogen atoms in water turns out to generate a distance equal to the wavelength of microwaves, which is why it heats up water.