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New Solar Cells 20 Times Cheaper
handy_vandal writes "STMicroelectronics has announced a new generation of photocells made from organic plastics. Over a typical 20-year life span of a solar cell, a single produced watt should cost as little as $0.20, compared with the current $4. See also article @ cnn.com. On a related note, this article @ IEEE discusses new improved LED technology by the same team."
Eetimes.com.
I have over 70 freaks, do you?
The mythical solar-powered flashlight becomes achievable!
Daniel
Carpe Diem
Excited.
Reading the article leaves you with a lot of "will, should, could" and no prototype.
And the $0.20 is a target to be reached, not an acheived goal.
What's Slashdot becoming, a free way to secure prior art against when companies actually has a patentable working model?
Grell
...when it gets down to fundamentals, do what you have to do and shed no tears. Dr. Matson in Tunnel in the Sky
This is not an announcement of any new solar cells. It's a press release detailing an advanced research program that STMicroelectronics hopes will eventually lead to cheap solar cells. RTFA whover posted this.
I've lived off the grid for over 6 years now.
Even with existing prices, it is about as cheap to buy cheaper land in outlying areas and generate your own power as it is to pay a power company _and_ pay higher prices for land. The main problem is you have to have a fair degree of mechanical aptitude to keep one of these systems running reliably.
Cheap solar cells would open up quite a bit of land for human use that is accessible by road but has no power access. When you combine that with WiFi/sattellite access the infrastructure advantages of cities become far less pronounced.
so what does a watt of electricy cost delivered these days, like from the power company? And one traditional silliness about solar power is that by the time you actual install it, the energy cost of the materials exceeds the expected lifetime output of the solar cells. So the green types who install solar are really pretty brown.
I don't believe this story for a second. Not a bit.
For decades I have been folowing solar cell technology, absolutely salivating at the promises that efficiency rating would soon rise above 15%, or that costs would no longer be prohibitively expensive or damaging to the environment (moreso than more conventional, polluting alternatives).
Well, I've given up. I've read shitty pie-in-the-sky stories like this almost every year for the last 25-years.
Now, if someone on Slashdot tells me that they bought these +50% efficient solar cells in Home Depot, that's when I'll get excited. Like I'll get excited when Chevrolet markets a flying car or my city puts a nuclear fusion power plant into service.
Yeah, we have lots of "empty" space here and there, and I've heard of people wanting to put solar power stations on the moon. I don't know about you, but I don't want to look up at the moon and see piles of man-made crap instead of its current beautiful state. Power stations on the moon makes me want to vomit.
That said, though, I will embrace the day when I don't have to be connected to any utilities at all...
"All terrestrial energy sources are really solar anyway; this means we've had a nuclear power industry all along!" - me
"There are a dozen opinions on a matter until you know the truth. Then there is only one." - CS Lewis (paraprhase)
Well, they've not actually developed these cells yet, but here's why the need exists:
:) We'll call that the average because it won't usually put out 1W and yet it'll always produce at least some power. Therefore, said solar cell produces 8 Watt-hour's of energy each day.
Lets do the math.. We have $4 / watt for current generation solar cells which last 20 years..
Suppose that a "1 watt" solar cell can produce that 1 watt from 10am to 6pm each day (8 hours) in the average installation (unless you live in Pittsburgh or Seattle!
8Wh x 365 days x 20 years / (1000W / 1kW) = 58.4 kilowatt-hours during the lifespan of the cell.
$4 / 58.4 = $0.0685 / kWh
My local electric utility costs about $0.10 / kWh, making solar sound cheaper. However, the cost of the individual cells is only half the cost of a solar installation. Once you add in the cost of storage batteries, a charge controller, a high-efficiency DC->AC inverter, etc. now your solar installation is typically MORE expensive than the utility! And it's worse for the environment too with the silicon production chemicals, lead-acid batteries, etc. Yuck!
In contrast, if ST can even reach half their goal and produce $0.40 / watt cells, now we're looking at $0.00685 / kWh for the cells themselves. Even if battery storage technology is not improved by then, at least you can supplement your utility needs during the day at very minimal cost!
The System Admin geeks should understand the following: is Linux really free for use in a production environment?
Resounding answer: no. There is a cost to do anything in the enterprise. You know, the TCO - total cost of ownership. You need backup media, you need power, you need people to make it run right.
So, let's talk about Gas. Is it really $1.36 a gallon, as advertised?
Most folks, again, would answer nope. There are those annoying little hard to calculate costs. For instance - if we weren't dependent on foreign engery - would we need a military the size we do?
How about the environment? Oil-n-Coal aren't doing it a hell of a lot of good. Doubt me? Move to LA - from what I've heard, it kind of sucks there.
So, while we in the US pay $1.36, we really are paying more - it's just not reflected at the pump.
It's only a matter of time before we move to Solar.
To quote the CNN Article:
So, the question is, did Reuters screw up, or is there an announcement that didn't make it to the STMicroelectronics page that was linked to in the body?
I don't know about you, but I don't want to look up at the moon and see piles of man-made crap instead of its current beautiful state. Power stations on the moon makes me want to vomit.
1) You must live way out in the country where there is no night time city lights to interfere with your view of the night sky.
2) You must have really good eyes or a decent telescope
3) You must have a really weak stomach.
You could build a kick ass solar power station the size of a major metropolis on the moon and not be able to see it with the naked eye.
The only drawback I see to solar power stations on the moon is the expense in buying 1,000,000 of those bright orange 50' extension cords so we can run the power back down to Earth.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing -- Emo Phillips
Bah you're thinking wrong....
generate electricity and run your electricity meter backwards during the day and consume at night.
Most solar power installations have no battery storage and simply pump electricity back to the grid (you get a special power meter from the power company that will run backwards... or sometimes a second meter to measure backflow)
what do you achieve? no power bill (net generated is always more than consumed so my credit hit's the cap of 200 dollar credit the power company has.. it get's consumed a bit in the winter (I live in michigan) but my highest electric bill was 2 winter's ago and I had to pay $30.00 for january... I was too lazy to clear snow off the panels.
the best part is that I force GREEN power down the throats of my neighbors and industry... they have to use my evil solar electricity that I pump back to the grid.
Now If 100 more people in my area do the same? you get a major drop in the need to generate electricity by the company... expand this to 20% of the residents here? you can forget about having to build a new power plant... the consumer is making your power now...
keep going and you see that solar power, if mandated in a city CAN make a gigantic difference...
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"...the best part is that I force GREEN power down ..."
Well technically Solar Power would be White Power, in that sunlight is white light... But that just sounds bad.
All that aside, $.20 per peak watt is freaking incredible. At that price you can probably make electric awnings out of the stuff. Let's just hope that this doesn't turn out to be vaporware like so many other stunning "advances" in energy have turned out to be (coughcold fusioncough)
Scientists restrict study to entire physical universe; creationist