Scientists use light to purge defects from solar cells

The last decade has seen a radical drop in the price of solar panels, driven largely by advances in manufacturing and installation. Researchers are developing solar cells that are even cheaper, using perovskite crystals, a cost-effective alternative to silicon typically used in solar panels.

New research published in the inaugural issue of the journal Joule suggests that light and water could be used to make perovskite solar cells markedly more efficient.

Perovskites are thought to be the next big thing in solar. While solar panels have gotten a lot more affordable, they will need to become dirt cheap if we are going to beat climate change. Buying rooftop solar panels will need to cost about as much as throwing on a new coat of paint. Perovskites might help us get there.

To understand how this remarkable technology works, take a peek inside a conventional solar cell. When sunshine strikes the solar panel, particles of light knock free surplus electrons from molecules of silicon. Those electrons flow through the metal lining of the cell and then by wire to homes and businesses in need of power.

Read more > Scientists use light to purge defects from solar cells

Researchers Develop Solar Cells That Can Be Sewn Onto Clothing

Today’s solar panels are rigid and bulky. There’s nothing so wrong with that when they’re in the middle of the Arizona desert, but that bulkiness doesn’t translate to powering an iPhone or Fitbit.

To bring the sun’s power to wearables requires a new kind of solar cell, one that’s lightweight and water-resistant. As researchers at the University of Tokyo and Japan’s RIKEN research institute describe Monday in the scientific journal Nature Energy, their newly created cell could be just what’s needed.

“Our devices will be able to be integrated onto the clothing, attached onto the shoulders or backsides, or onto our hats,” RIKEN researcher Kenjiro Fukuda tells Inverse. “And these power sources can supply enough electrical powers to [Internet of Things] devices such as sensors, or maybe iPhone or smartphone systems to supply charge to the smart devices.”

The idea of solar clothing isn’t all that new; Tommy Hilfiger, for instance, rolled out limited-edition jackets in 2014 with their very own solar panels placed on the back. But there’s a reason those jackets never got brought back for a full production run: The cells were too big and hefty to work as much of anything other than an expensive novelty.

Read more > Researchers Develop Solar Cells That Can Be Sewn Onto Clothing

These New Solar Cells Are Modeled After a Fly’s Eye

As far as elements go, silicon is second only to oxygen when it comes to abundance on Earth. For this and its properties as a semiconductor it has long been the backbone of electronics. The material is in everything from computer chips to radios. It’s the namesake, after all, of the modern tech industry’s hub in California, Silicon Valley.

Speaking of the sunny tech capital, silicon is the primary element used in solar panels. Three scientists at New Jersey’s Bell Telephone Company patented the very first silicon solar cell—the first solar cell to be considered practical, with its ability to convert 6 percent of incoming light into usable electricity—in the 1950s. The material has dominated the solar market ever since. Today, more than 90 percent of panels produced worldwide are crystalline silicon PV panels.

Silicon has earned so much status and market influence, with little competition in the solar space, that few know there are other options for solar.

Perovskites, or crystalline structures, are a new type of solar cell, made of common elements such as methylammonium lead iodide. Perovskites are easier to manufacture, and have the potential to convert sunlight to electricity at a greater rate than silicon cells. The challenge is that perovskites are extremely fragile.

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Read more > These New Solar Cells Are Modeled After a Fly’s Eye

Flisom launches next-gen flexible solar panels

Flisom AG, an innovative and specialized solar technology company, backed by Tata Industries, a group of Swiss investors and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), declared today that they were open for global orders at an exclusive roll out event for customers and partners in Zurich, Switzerland. Flisom showcased a range of applications including buildings-integrated PV modules for light weight roofs and facades.

Flisom’s solar modules are extremely light (as light as 200g/m2), and highly efficient (up to 50x power-to-weight ratio compared to silicon PV panels) and ultra-thin (under 2mm). In addition, their uniform, jet-black design offers beautiful aesthetics, making the technology suitable for use anywhere that aesthetics are also important.

Since 2013, Flisom has invested in developing proprietary manufacturing equipment and components, creating a unique ‘roll to roll’ manufacturing process which can replicate the laboratory success of CIGS solar technology on an industrial scale. It is already scaling up production in Switzerland to fulfil incoming orders and scouting for locations globally for further scale up.

The company is already working with leading global automotive, aerospace, and transportation companies to create custom solar-integrated solutions, for cars, UAVs and public transportation carriages.

Over the past few years, Flisom has received significant investment from Tata Industries (part of the $100bn Tata group) and a group of Swiss investors.

Over the next year, Flisom will be targeting opportunities in the UK, continental Europe and the United States.

Read more > Flisom launches next-gen flexible solar panels

Sunflare adds efficient solar power to any recreational vehicle

The advent of lightweight, affordable, and efficient solar panels has been a real game-changer for recreational vehicle owners. In the past, if they wanted to add solar power to their camper, it typically involved mounting large heavy panels to the roof. But now, a company called Sunflare came up with a new lightweight and flexible option that can still generate plenty of energy from the sun.

The breakthrough that Sunflare has delivered begins in the manufacturing process, which the company says is the cleanest and most environmentally friendly in the industry. Using what it calls Capture4 technology, the new Sunflare solar panels are created on a cell-by-cell level, which improves both durability and performance. This also allows the manufacturer to do things like add bypass diodes to each individual cell as well, giving them the ability to turn themselves off when shaded without negatively impacting the performance of any unshaded cells around them. The result is better energy production even in shady conditions.

Read more > Sunflare adds efficient solar power to any recreational vehicle

Particle Accelerators Could Be the Key to Cheaper Solar Panels

Making solar panels is complicated work. There are a lot of steps to get from raw materials to a finished, fully functional solar panel. But did you know one of those steps can involve a particle accelerator? Minute Physics explains:

At their core, solar panels are made of the same thing computer chips are made of: silicon. Pure silicon is made in long cylinders, called boules, that are sliced into hundreds or thousands of very thin wafers. Usually, these wafers are less than a millimeter thick.

So how to slice them? Typically, manufacturers will use a saw, which works by removing some of the silicon to create a gap, turning part of that boule into silicon sawdust. But this means that much of the silicon is wasted. Instead of a saw, why not use a particle accelerator?

While you might be thinking of using the particle accelerator as a high-powered cutting laser, in actuality the process is much more subtle. The particle accelerator is fired face-on at the boule, and the accelerator embeds protons inside the silicon. Thanks to an interesting property of particle physics, charged particles like protons passing through a material will travel a very specific distance and stop.

Read more > Particle Accelerators Could Be the Key to Cheaper Solar Panels

More efficient solar panels… in algae?

Solar panels are quite an inefficient form of renewable energy – only around 20 percent of incoming sunlight is turned into energy. However, with a little help from millions of years of evolution and some algae, solar panels could start to shape up.

Founded in 2014, Swedish Algae Factory is an algae cultivator with a sustainable mindset. The company, a self-proclaimed “visionary algae lab,” works with a specific strain of Diatom algae that can endure and multiply in the grim low-light, low-temperature conditions of the Nordic sea and has a set of remarkable abilities.

The outer shell of the algae allows it to absorb light very efficiently, enabling it to survive its harsh conditions. CEO Sofie Allert and her team discovered a way to harness this capacity to increase the efficiency of solar panels. “Basically what we do, is that we extract a material from algae that is designed by over a 100 million years of evolution to secure the survival of a specific algae group,” Sofie told TNW via email.

“The material constitutes the shell of a microscopic algae group called diatoms. This nanoporous silica material is naturally designed to trap visible light extremely efficiently in order to secure that the algae photosynthesize even when there is not that much light present,” she continues.


Read more > More efficient solar panels… in algae?

New lab-grown bacteria can work like solar panels and outshine plants at photosynthesis

Researchers at the University of Berkeley have taught bacteria to cover themselves with nanocrystals, which have been found to be better than plants at capturing and making use of the sun's energy.

Scientists believe that this "artificial photosynthesis" is the next step to generating renewable energy through sunlight. The bacteria, when exposed to sunlight, showed 80% efficiency at converting sunlight to energy as opposed to only 2% efficiency of plants, according to a report by phys.org.

Scientists have hailed this as a zero-waste technology as the process is self replicating and self regenerating.

"Rather than rely on inefficient chlorophyll to harvest sunlight, I've taught bacteria how to grow and cover their bodies with tiny semiconductor nanocrystals," says Dr Kelsey K Sakimoto, lead researcher. "These nanocrystals are much more efficient than chlorophyll and can be grown at a fraction of the cost of manufactured solar panels" he added.

Bacteria that was used for this study is a naturally occurring non-photosynthetic organism called Moorella thermoacetica. It is known to produce acetic acid from carbon-dioxide in nature, notes phys.org. "Once covered with these tiny solar panels, the bacteria can synthesize food, fuels and plastics, all using solar energy," Sakimoto says.
Read more > New lab-grown bacteria can work like solar panels and outshine plants at photosynthesis

The Three Main Requirements for Using Solar Power in Your Home

Solar energy will work in almost any home that physically has the space to support an array of solar panels. With the wide selection of solar panels available it’s not that hard to find solar panels that are the right shape and size to fit into any building. Still, there are certain things that your home has to have in order to effectively use solar panels and solar energy. The three main things that your home needs in order for solar power to work at your home are:

1. Enough space to put the solar panel array.

If you don’t have enough land or roof or wall space to put the solar panels on the house then solar energy isn’t going to be effective for you. Depending on the type of solar panel that you choose you might have to have a large solar array in order to generate enough energy to power your home which would make it necessary for you to have some open space. If you live in a crowded city you might not have room for solar panels although solar shingles might be a good option for you. Local building codes may also restrict your options of solar panels. Be sure and check with your local government as to any restrictions they put on the size and location of solar panels on a building.

Since solar shingles go on the roof of the home just like a traditional roof solar shingles make it possible for homeowners that don’t even land to support a lot of solar panels to gather and use solar energy. Some types of solar panels can be installed on your roof without damaging your existing roof shingles but if you decide to install solar panels on your room you should have a professional do the installation to make sure that your roof isn’t damaged during the installation.

2. Enough sun to make the panels work.

If you live in a climate that is cloudy most of the time or dark a great deal of the time then you will not be able to use solar panels effectively. Unless the solar panels are exposed to direct sunlight for most of the day everyday they will not generate enough energy for you to use. The more sun there is the more power you can generate.

If you live California, Arizona, Florida, or a state where it’s bright and sunny most of the time then solar energy is a great option for you. If you live in a state that sun part of the year and lots of storms or snow the rest of the year then you can still save money using solar energy for some things but you’re better off using grid electricity during the winter.

Another factor is how far north you are. The farther north one is on the planet, the lower the sun is in the sky. This means that the rays of the sun are hitting the solar panel at a more oblique angle so less actual light energy is hitting the solar panel. In northern states like Minnesota or Maine solar panels are going to be less efficient than in southern states like Louisiana and Florida.

3. A way to finance the price of the solar panels.

A solar panel isn’t cheap. A high quality solar panel array plus installation could cost in excess of $20,000. It’s important to make sure that you have worked out a way to afford the cost of buying and installing the solar panels before you go to purchase them. Remember that you don’t have to pay the entire cost of the panels out of pocket in most cases because there are lots of grants and incentives you can get to help cover the cost.

The Three Main Requirements for Using Solar Power in Your Home

Solar energy will work in almost any home that physically has the space to support an array of solar panels. With the wide selection of solar panels available it’s not that hard to find solar panels that are the right shape and size to fit into any building. Still, there are certain things that your home has to have in order to effectively use solar panels and solar energy. The three main things that your home needs in order for solar power to work at your home are:

1. Enough space to put the solar panel array.

If you don’t have enough land or roof or wall space to put the solar panels on the house then solar energy isn’t going to be effective for you. Depending on the type of solar panel that you choose you might have to have a large solar array in order to generate enough energy to power your home which would make it necessary for you to have some open space. If you live in a crowded city you might not have room for solar panels although solar shingles might be a good option for you. Local building codes may also restrict your options of solar panels. Be sure and check with your local government as to any restrictions they put on the size and location of solar panels on a building.

Since solar shingles go on the roof of the home just like a traditional roof solar shingles make it possible for homeowners that don’t even land to support a lot of solar panels to gather and use solar energy. Some types of solar panels can be installed on your roof without damaging your existing roof shingles but if you decide to install solar panels on your room you should have a professional do the installation to make sure that your roof isn’t damaged during the installation.

2. Enough sun to make the panels work.

If you live in a climate that is cloudy most of the time or dark a great deal of the time then you will not be able to use solar panels effectively. Unless the solar panels are exposed to direct sunlight for most of the day everyday they will not generate enough energy for you to use. The more sun there is the more power you can generate.

If you live California, Arizona, Florida, or a state where it’s bright and sunny most of the time then solar energy is a great option for you. If you live in a state that sun part of the year and lots of storms or snow the rest of the year then you can still save money using solar energy for some things but you’re better off using grid electricity during the winter.

Another factor is how far north you are. The farther north one is on the planet, the lower the sun is in the sky. This means that the rays of the sun are hitting the solar panel at a more oblique angle so less actual light energy is hitting the solar panel. In northern states like Minnesota or Maine solar panels are going to be less efficient than in southern states like Louisiana and Florida.

3. A way to finance the price of the solar panels.

A solar panel isn’t cheap. A high quality solar panel array plus installation could cost in excess of $20,000. It’s important to make sure that you have worked out a way to afford the cost of buying and installing the solar panels before you go to purchase them. Remember that you don’t have to pay the entire cost of the panels out of pocket in most cases because there are lots of grants and incentives you can get to help cover the cost.

Is Using Solar Pane ls Right for You ?

If you’ve been thinking about switching to solar energy you might be having trouble deciding if buying and installing solar panels is the right thing for you. After all, the up front cost to purchase and install solar panels isn’t cheap and for some people the short term costs of investing in solar panels can be a burden. Here are some questions to ask yourself that will help you decide if solar energy is the right thing for you:

Can you afford the up front cost to buy and install the solar panels?

Most people either add the cost of solar panels into the cost of their new home or use money from the mortgage to pay for the solar panels or take out a home equity loan in order to pay for them. If you’re taking out a loan then you need to go over your finances and figure out if you can really afford the required monthly loan payment. Eventually the solar panels will pay for themselves but the up-front cost is such that at first you might be strapped financially after buying and installing them.

Can you live with the inconvenience?

Solar power is variable. If there is no sun or very little sun on a particular day then you won’t get any power from the solar panels and you may have to use grid electricity or go with reduced power for a time period. Are you willing to put up with little inconveniences to have a greener household?

Is your home set up for solar energy?

Do you have the necessary space requirements and land requirements to support a solar array? If you’re going to choose solar roof shingles do you have the necessary permits for building? Make sure that your home is properly set up for solar panels or solar shingles before you invest in a big purchase of solar panels or solar shingles.

Are you willing to do the maintenance?

Solar panels are low maintenance but they still do require some maintenance. You will need to occasionally clean off the solar panels. They will gather dirt and debris over time and anything that blocks the sunlight from reaching the solar panels will decrease the amount of energy you will receive. If you live in an area which gets snow in the winter that means every snowfall you have to clear of the solar panels. Also, the electrical equipment required to run the electricity from the solar panels into the electrical grid of your home does require some watching. There are stringent requirements for this because of the variability of the energy coming from the solar panels. So, it requires some monitoring.

Solar Panel Use in the United States

Since the United States has enjoyed low fuel prices and an abundance of sources for fuel traditionally using solar energy has never been something that was really popular. But with fossil fuel costs rising at an alarming rate and many people concerned about being able to afford to heat their homes or afford electricity combined with a growing awareness of the environmental problems caused by the use of fossil fuels it’s becoming a lot more popular, even trendy, to use solar energy.

Currently about 0.1% of all the energy generated in the United States is solar energy. This is mostly because of the cost of buying and installing solar panels and a lack of education about the benefits of solar energy. But, The Utility Solar Assessment Study, a recent scientific study about solar energy use in the United States, predicts that by 2025 10% of all the electricity in the United States will come from solar energy.

This is because solar panes are being made more efficiently and in greater numbers which is bringing the cost of using solar energy down to a point where most home owners can afford to use solar energy. Also, the Federal government and almost every state are offering homeowner tax rebates, grants, and other financial incentives to encourage them to install solar panels in their homes. Especially in states that are known for constant sunshine like California and Florida solar energy is becoming just as cheap as fossil fuel energy.

The study also predicts that by 2015 the cost of solar energy in most major cities will be on par with the cost of fossil fuel energy even with the set up and installation costs of buying solar panels. By 2025 it will be cheaper and more efficient to use solar power to power most appliances and homes than it will be to use fossil fuel based energy.

Solar power is becoming more and more common so people are getting used to solar power as a viable option. One of the most popular uses for solar panels today is in garden lights. These are small lamps that light a yard, walkway, or light up a tree or wall. Rather than run electrical cords across the ground or bury them in the ground, which is expensive, if the garden light is powered by a solar panel, it can be placed anywhere and does not have to be wired. These lights are of course only on at night but their solar panels gather energy from the sun during the day and store it in a battery. Throughout the night the light runs off the battery’s electrical energy.

Increasingly, roadside signs are powered by solar panels. Because of the cost and complication of running electrical wires to remote areas, the signs have solar panels installed which make electricity from the sun. Solar panels are especially useful for portable construction signs. Because they don’t have to be plugged in they can be placed anywhere and get their energy from the sun. Many calculators are now powered by solar panels rather than batteries. Again, they don’t have to be plugged in and as long as there is any light, even artificial light, and the solar panels can generate enough electricity to power the calculator.

As applications of solar power are increasingly becoming a part of our society, people are giving solar panels a second look. With costs decreasing and efficiency increasing, homeowners and developers are considering using solar panels more than ever.

Solar Panel Use Around the World

Even though the use of solar energy in the United States is relatively new, people in other countries have been using solar energy for a long time. Right now Germany is the biggest producer of solar energy, followed closely by Australia.

Interest in solar power around the world increased during the Oil Embargo of 1973 and the resulting oil crisis that dragged through much of the 1970’s. During that time the countries that had the richest deposits of oil in the Middle East refused to ship oil to the United States, Western Europe, and any country that had supported Israel. Faced with huge oil shortages and angry consumers businesses quickly began developing solar energy technology that had been abandoned when oil was cheap and plentiful.

Why have other countries adopted the use of solar energy so much quicker than the United States? The simplest answer to that question is cost. After the end of the Oil Embargo the United States developed strong ties with the OPEC countries that led to a large reduction in oil prices.

For decades the United States has enjoyed some of the cheapest fossil fuel prices of any developed nation because of the existence of fossil fuel deposits like coal and natural gas in the United States and good relationships with other countries like OPEC that have huge natural supplies of fossil fuels.

Fossil fuel prices in the United States are rising and consumers are shocked at how much they have to pay for gas and electricity that is coming from fossil fuels but for many countries around the world the costs that United States citizens pay is still much lower than the cost of gas and electricity in their countries that must import 90% or more of their fossil fuel products.

Now the focus is on solar energy around the world because the world is running out of fossil fuels, and the environment is changing at an alarming rate due to pollution from the use of fossil fuels and the destruction of the earth to get fossil fuels. Scientists, politicians, and homeowners that want to live in an environmentally responsible way while saving money on their energy costs are all trying to find ways to make solar energy more practical and more affordable for everyday citizens.

For homeowners around the world solar energy is quickly becoming a cheap alternative to costly fossil fuel energy. Since the cost of living is increasing fast homeowners need to find cheaper ways to power their homes. In addition, being able to generate your own solar power gives homeowners greater independence.

How Much Money Can Installing Solar Pane ls Really Save?

For most homeowners the decision about whether or not to install solar panels really comes down to the cost of the solar panels and installation versus the long term savings that using solar energy can provide. So how cost effective is it to install solar panels?

No one can calculate exactly how much money you can save by using solar energy because energy prices fluctuate and there are other factors that need to be taken into consideration. But, many homeowners that have switched to using solar energy report that they have cut their energy bills from usually 50% to as high as 90% which can add up to a lot of money saved over the course of 20 years.

Another factor to keep in mind when you are considering buying solar panels for your home is that homeowners can usually get large grants and rebates from state and Federal programs to help defray the cost of buying solar panels. So you might be able to install solar panels in your home for a lot less than retail price if you quality to take advantage of those incentives. Many solar panel dealers will help you fill out the paperwork necessary to get those rebates and grants.

If you are building a new home then the cost of buying and installing solar panels for energy can be folded into your home loan or home mortgage so that you won’t have to put in any money up front to install them. Since the solar panels will be part of the home and will add value to the home most mortgage companies look at the cost of solar panels as a home improvement.

If you have a pre-existing home that you want to fit with solar panels you can take out a mortgage or secure a home equity line of credit to finance the up front cost of the solar panels and the monthly energy savings that you have as a result should more than pay for the loan payments. The home improvement of adding solar panels also increases the value of the property.

Once the solar panels are installed it takes awhile for the cost of the installation to be absorbed but after that point the amount of money that you save can be hundreds of dollars per month depending on the price of electricity and how much electricity you use. An existing home usually reaches the “payoff point” where the solar panels have paid for themselves in savings after about 6-8 years. A new home will reach the payoff point almost immediately.

The Benefits of Using Solar Energy in Your Home

There are many benefits to the environment when people use solar energy to heat and power their homes. There are also many benefits for homeowners. At first the cost on installing a solar array so that you can solar energy at home might seem very expensive but over time the solar energy panels will more than pay for themselves. Still not sure that solar panels are right for you? Here are just a few of the benefits of switching to solar energy in your home:

* Solar panels last a long time – If your solar panel array is installed properly it can last for 20 years • or longer. Proper maintenance is required to keep it functioning well but the solar panels themselves shouldn’t need to be replaced for at least 20 years. Solar roof shingles can last even longer depending on the type of climate that you live in.

* Solar panels create quiet energy – The heat and electricity generated by solar panels is practically • noiseless so you will be making your home a lot quieter to live in when you switch to solar energy.

* Solar panels are one of the most low maintenance home improvements – Solar panels do require some • maintenance but overall they are pretty easy to take care of. After they are installed if you check them regularly for damage and replace any broken or damaged PV cells you shouldn’t have to do much more maintenance on them.

* Solar panels can protect your roof and siding – Since the solar panel array shades the house it means • that your roof and siding will last longer because the solar panels will act as a buffer between your home and the elements.

* Increased home value – Installing solar panels is really an investment in your home because the resale value of your home will rise significantly once you have solar panels. There is a lot of interest in living in a more environmentally responsible way these days and customers that are looking for new homes are concerned about the impact of their homes on the environment. Having solar power is quite a draw for home buyers.

* Solar energy saves money. Even though installing solar panels isn’t cheap once the solar panels start to  create energy you will start to see a huge savings in your monthly electric bills and heating bills. You can end up paying next to nothing or even nothing at all for electricity. That is probably the biggest reason that so many homeowners are considering switching to solar energy.

Solar Panels and the Environment

You already know that switching to solar energy can have a big effect on the environment, but you might be wondering just how big an effect. After all, can one person or one family switching to solar energy for heat and electricity really make that much of a difference on the environment?

Yes! One person or one family can save 20,000 tons of greenhouse gas from polluting the environment just by using solar energy to heat your hot water and heat your home. 20,000 tons is a lot of greenhouse gases! And that’s just if one home just switches to solar energy. Imagine the decrease in greenhouse gases that could happen if 20,000 people per year switched to using solar energy to heat their hot water and heat their home. Add to that the effects of reducing energy consumption by 50% if you use solar energy for electricity and suddenly the impact on the environment is enormous.

In addition to reducing the amount of greenhouse gases that you put out switching to solar energy has a big impact on the environment because you will be reducing the amount of fossil fuels that you are using. Fossil fuels are very bad pollutants and contribute directly to poor air quality and other environmental problems.

The environment isn’t just hurt by people burning fossil fuels for energy. The environment is also hurt by what is necessary to get those fossil fuels. Enormous portions of the earth need to be dug up, processing plants and refineries built, and natural ecosystems destroyed all over the planet just to get to the fossil fuels that are buried in the earth. Most of the pristine wilderness is gone in any country that has natural deposits of fossil fuels because of the ever-growing demand that countries around the world have for fossil fuels.

When fossil fuels are processed there is a huge amount of solid waste, much of it toxic, that is left behind. This waste takes up space in landfills and then seeps into groundwater while the runoff flows to the waterways polluting the water and the soil. The carbon dioxide and other gases that are released poison the air for miles around the processing plants of these fossil fuels.

Solar energy might not solve all of the environmental problems that we face as a result of the overuse of fossil fuel but it’s a start. Just having a few thousand people per year switch to using solar energy to heat and power their homes will be a big step towards creating a safer, cleaner environment for everyone. And since the costs of buying and installing solar panes is dropping all the time soon it will be a lot more common for homes to use solar energy for their power needs.

Solar Panel Shingles

If you’re building a new home or if you are replacing the roof on your house you might want to consider using solar panel shingles for your roof. Solar panel shingles are cutting edge technology that only recently hit the consumer market.

Solar panel shingles are the same size as traditional asphalt shingles but they are actually small PV solar cells. They fit together like traditional roof shingles. You can also use a combination of solar panel shingles and traditional shingles if you can’t afford to do your entire roof in solar panel shingles although you won’t get a very high return electricity rate if you use just a few solar panel shingles.

Solar panel shingles are weather resistant and function just like normal shingles except that they also can provide clean, environmentally safe and free solar energy to power and heat your home. Using an entire rooftop of solar panel shingles is usually more than enough energy to power your home except for some exceptionally large appliances like a washer and dryer.

Solar panel shingles aren’t cheap, but they can help you save money on energy costs over time. Here are some of the other benefits of using solar panel shingles to power your home:

• Solar shingles are easy to integrate with existing roof structures and shingles.

• Solar shingles fit into any design style.

• Solar shingles can decrease your electricity bill significantly, sometime by more than half..

• Solar shingles are environmentally friendly.

• There are lots of state and Federal Green Building financial incentives to use solar shingles.

• Solar shingles will increase the resale value of your home.

• Solar shingles are a smart long term investment in your home equity.

• Solar shingles are easy to install.

• Solar shingles have at least a 20-year output meaning you won’t have to roof your home again for probably 20 years.

Types of Solar Panels

Today there are essentially four different types of solar panels that you can purchase easily and use if you want to install solar panels on your home to generate electricity or heat your home. They are Monocrystalline Silicon Panels, Polycrystalline Silicon Panels, String Ribbon Silicon Panels, and Amorphous Silicon Panels.

Monocrystalline Silicon Panels - Monocrystalline (or single-crystal) silicon solar panels have a return electricity rate of anywhere from 14% to 18%. These panels are made from one continuous sheet of silicon that has pieces of metal nailed to the edges to increase the conductivity and to excite the electrons.

Monocrystalline panels are more expensive than some of the other types of solar panels that you can buy but they are also more effective, so in the long run you’re better off buying these panels if you can afford the up front cost.

Polycrystalline Silicon Panels - Polycrystalline (or multi-crystal) silicon panes have an electricity return rate of about 12%-14% so they are less efficient than monocrystalline silicon solar panels. These panels are made up of lots of individual PV cells that have metal conducting materials nailed to the sides that will help excite the electrons and also connect the cells together.

Polycrystalline silicon panels are the cheapest solar panels to produce so they are usually the cheapest for consumers to buy. The maintenance costs of polycrystalline silicon panels is lower than the maintenance cost of monocrystalline solar panels because if one of the cells on a polycrystalline panel is damaged you can have the individual cell replaced without having to replace the entire panel.

String Ribbon Silicon Panels – String ribbon silicon panels are made in a similar way to the polycrystalline silicon panels and have about the same electricity return rate. The difference between string ribbon silicon panels and polycrystalline silicon panels is that the PV cells in a string ribbon panel are made of strips of silicon attached to metal bars that connect the strips to form a cell. Using strips of silicon to form the cell instead of using one solid square of silicon make the production cost of string ribbon silicon panels a bit lower than the production cost of polycrystalline silicon panels.

Amorphous Silicon Panels – Amorphous silicon panels have the lowest electricity return rate of any type of solar panels. Traditionally amorphous silicon solar panels have an electricity return rate of between 5%-6%. That’s because these panels aren’t made with crystalline silicon. They are composed of a piece of semi conductive metal, like copper, with a thin silicon film over the top that is attached to some metal pieces.
These panels are very cheap to produce but when you’re buying solar panels for home use you need to consider the long term efficiency of the type of panel that you’re buying. Unfortunately, though cheap to begin with they do not produce much energy, therefore amorphous silicon panels are not going to be cost effective in the long run.

The History Of Solar Panels

Photovoltaic power was first discovered by a French scientist, Antoine Becquerel, in 1839. Many scientists that followed experimented with solar power and tried to build a device that would capture the sun’s energy and redirect it but they were not able to find a way to make a working PV cell. The solar cell was first successfully made by the scientist, Charles Fritts, in 1882. Since they didn’t have the same types of materials that we have today the first working solar cell was made of thin sheets of Selenium, a mineral, that were then coated with gold.

Even though the use of solar panels for generating electricity and heat seems like a relatively new development it’s actually been widely used to generate power since the early 1900’s. Photos from that period show a series of parabola shaped “sun catchers” that would harness the power of the sun and focus it on water tanks. Once the water was heated it made steam which was used to power farm machinery. The solar heated water created enough steam to power 55 horsepower machinery which was cutting edge at the time.

Then, in the middle of the Industrial Revolution, businesses found that they could use the sun’s energy to heat water which created steam to power the machines in the factories. At that time solar energy was considered the wave of the future and a lot of companies began developing better ways to use the sun’s energy until after WWI when fossil fuels became more attractive to companies and farm owners to run their machinery.

The first working silicon solar cell didn’t come along until 1941 when an employee at a Bell laboratory, Russell Ohl, patented his design for a silicon based PV cell. In 1954, Bell labs mass produced the first crystal silicon solar cell. The Bell PV cell converted 4% of the sun’s energy into electricity a rate that was considered the cutting edge in energy technology.

Scientists continued to reinvent and rework the design of the original silicon PV cell and were eventually able to produce a solar cell that was capable of putting out a 20% return electricity rate. In the 1980’s solar cell technology was being used almost exclusively for space travel.

The use of solar power in space is a natural given that spacecraft can’t burn fossil fuels in the vacuum of space and in space the rays of the sun are not reduced by the Earth’s atmosphere and clouds. In the late 1990’s as awareness grew in the science community about the effects of global warming and the need for renewable energy sources scientists continued to refine the silicon PV cell until by early 2000 they were able to make a solar cell with 24% electricity return.

In just 7 years scientists were again able to increase the electricity return of the silicon solar cell using space age materials. By 2007, modern silicon PV solar cells were operating with a 28% electricity return. As scientists continue to make better solar cells it will become more common and more cost effective for homeowners to use solar cells and solar panels to power their homes.

What Are Solar Photovoltaic Systems?

Solar photovoltaic systems, or PV systems, are the components in a solar cell that actually grab the energy from the sun and turn it into energy. PV systems are the fastest growing area of technology in the world and production of solar cells that use PV systems has been consistently doubling about every two years. Mainly this is due to rising interest solar energy and the desire of more people to buy solar panels to create their own electricity and heat for their homes. The demand for improved solar power technology encourages governments and businesses to invest time and money into improving the technology and making it more cost efficient.

Some governments around the world, especially in Europe, are giving financial incentives both to companies that are working on developing PV systems and making them more efficient and less costly to the average consumer and also to the consumers that buy them. Because PV solar cells are still relatively new when it comes to solar energy the cost of a solar panel containing PV cells is still fairly high in most places. Also, one solar panel is not usually enough to power an entire home which makes using solar PV systems even more costly for the average homeowner.

The good news is that more and more homes are being built with PV systems already installed which makes it easier and less costly for consumers to buy environmentally friendly homes that run on solar power. Businesses that want to operate factories more cost effectively and in a more environmentally friendly way while collecting some nice government incentives are also installing solar PV energy systems. Germany is currently the biggest market for solar PV systems with the United States, Australia and Spain not far behind.

Solar PV systems are being used successfully around the world to power devices like roadside signs, traffic lights, emergency phones, and other stand alone devices that might be difficult to power using traditional electricity or batteries. Solar PV energy has proved enormously successful at powering these devices. Using solar PV systems in these types of devices and in other everyday machines like parking meters has saved many cities and towns a lot of money because they don’t need to send out regular maintenance crews to make sure that these things are still running properly.

Critics of solar PV systems say that while the solar energy produced by the PV cells doesn’t have any harmful effects to the environment the production of these cells does result in some pollution. Advocates of the solar PV cells say that they are working on developing a type of PV energy cell the production of which won’t produce any pollution. While the production of the cells does create some pollution it doesn’t create as much pollution as other types of materials do when manufactured or used to create energy.

What Are Solar Panels?

Solar panels are flat collections of solar cells that are used to catch the Sun’s energy and use it to create electricity and heat. Because the sun’s energy is so spread out it takes a collection of solar cells to generate enough energy to make electricity or heat. Solar panels come in different sizes and shapes so that they can be used on a variety of different types of buildings but no matter what shape or size they are the basic design of a solar panel is the same.

How do solar cells work?

Solar cells are wafers made of a semi-conductive material, usually silicon, combined with rarer elements such as phosphorus and boron. The silicon is what grabs the energy from the sun and traps it to be used for electricity while the phosphorus and the boron help excite the molecules and intensify the energy that is coming into the cell. When the sun’s rays hit the silicon and are channeled through the cell the molecules excite and travel through an attached electrical circuit, creating electricity.

Solar panels convert anywhere from about 14% to about 22% of the sun’s energy that hits the panel into electricity. That doesn’t seem like a lot of electricity produced but the amount of electricity that a solar panel can generate also depends on where the panel is positioned and how much direct sun it gets. When there is no sun or the panel isn’t in the directly sunlight it gets little or no sun and will produce little or no electricity. The low efficiency of solar cells is a problem to their large-scale use. It takes many large solar panels of solar cells to provide enough electricity to power a house or a building.

Solar panels produce electricity that can be used for lighting but solar panel energy can also be used to heat a home or building. A solar thermal heating system consists of solar panels that are arranged in a specific spot where the solar panel energy is used to heat a tank of water. The hot water runs under the floors of the house, heating them, and then the water is piped back to the tank to be heated again.

Thermal solar heating systems work very well and are a cost effective and environmentally friendly alternative to expensive gas or electric heating systems. Solar thermal energy is often used quite a bit by people that have pools and outdoor hot tubs to heat the water they use. It’s a lot less expensive to heat a large pool or a hot tub with thermal solar energy than it is to use fossil fuel heaters that can cost a fortune.