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Solar Cells — Made In a Pizza Oven

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the because-you-can dept.

stylemessiah writes "The winner of several Eureka Science Awards in Australia is a crafty chick who devised a way to create solar cells cheaply using a pizza oven, nail polish and an inkjet printer. This was developed to address the high cost of cells and in particular for the world's poorest regions. She wanted to give the ~2 billion people around the world who don't have electricity the gift of light and cheap energy. This could have profound (and a good profound) implications for education and health in those in the poorest regions in the world. And it all started with her parents giving her a solar energy kit when she was 10..."

3 of 518 comments (clear)

  1. For those who like to watch... by serps · · Score: 5, Interesting
    For those who like to watch:

    Nominee video of Nicole Kuepper

    Vodcast of People's Choice awards ceremony (Look for ep 26, 2008)

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    "Einstein argued that [...] God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer." ~ Brooks
  2. Re:how many by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In addition to that, the oven could be modified to either be fully heated or at least preheated by a solar concentrator.

    Solar thermal is a LOT cheaper and easier than solar photovoltaic. The problem is that concentrator-based designs can't work in clouds, while PV and nonconcentrated can. Nonconcentrated thermal doesn't work well for electrical energy generation. (Great for hot water heating though.)

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    retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
  3. Re:how many by Emb3rz · · Score: 5, Interesting
    1. If you've ever stood near a pizza oven (a typical one, which is what this method will utilize), you know that no little amount of energy is lost into the surrounding area. In both places that I've worked in which Pizza was made, the room containing the oven wouldn't drop below 99F unless the oven was actually turned off.
    2. You truly expect that this new production method would take so long to complete? Or do you simply believe that the solar panels have the lifespan of a fruit fly?
    3. The economic feasability of this hinges on whether what you expend is greater than what you receive. The point of the project was to distribute cheap/free solar panels to other countries. You cannot achieve said 'cheap/free' if you're taking a substantial net loss in producing them. Therefore, in a very short way, I proposed that the culmination of steps 1 and 2 would be that the oven would run entirely on sustainable free energy. The moment you begin to collect more energy than you're using, you have a net gain that can begin even to offset maintenance costs. In this way, a single oven could be made to operate 'free.' This would strongly contribute to the aforementioned economic feasability and as such would make it very possible to reach the intended goal, of deploying these panels to other countries that need them.

    I know, don't feed the trolls. Sorry.