New material promises maximum solar-electric conversion (solar panel, wireless, installation, cost)

[Restrain]

Advocates of solar have been pushing people to jump on the solar bandwagon, ignoring the 20-30 year recovery coats, changing technologies, etc.

Here is a reason to wait. MIT has come up with a new material that will allow much more absorption of sunlight and a 'maximum' (more or less) conversion system to electricity. But the net result will be a newer form of solar cell technology, much cheaper than existing systems, and much more efficient.

So when that solar panel salesman comes trotting around to sell you a 20 year lease package on solar, tell them to go away. You don't like to be like the man in Dallas that spent $40K on putting in CAT5 and remote controlled switches, etc in his home, then find that everything has converted to wireless and the remote-controlled switches, etc over the counter at pennies on the dollar from what he spent.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/mit...ect-solar-cell

[Dakster]

Restrain - LOL on the story...

Good news on the Solar panel tech, but how much more will this new tech cost? Will it still have along payback time?

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Restrain

Advocates of solar have been pushing people to jump on the solar bandwagon, ignoring the 20-30 year recovery coats, changing technologies, etc.

10 year recovery cost is more realistic for much of the us, given the low cost of current panels, typically less than $1/watt. Here in Hawai'i folks talk about 6 year paybacks.

Here is a reason to wait.

I wouldn't say that. First, there's ALWAYS a tendency to wait, because there's always going to be something new coming, but when, and at what cost? This article says one of the inventors estimates it might take 5 years to become a commercial product. That's if they don't run into delays. And then it always takes time to roll new products out, so say 7 years before it's REALLY available, but at maybe 3X the cost of Photovoltaics, so make that 10 years before it can be cost justified, by which time something better might have been developed in the lab.

Meanwhile you could be enjoying the benefits of the current technology for years.

And besides, this is not a technology for residential rooftops. It requires a solar collector configuration, which means large commercial installations.

But the story is cool. I look forward to seeing further developments. Thanks for posting it.