Optical Furnace Bakes Better Solar Cells

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory just announced that they have found a way to create more efficient photovoltaic cells using 50% less energy. The technique hinges upon a new optical furnace that uses intense light instead of a conventional furnace to heat silicon to make solar cells. The new furnace utilizes 'highly reflective and heat-resistant ceramics to ensure that the light is absorbed only by a silicon wafer, not by the walls inside the furnace.'"

Comments

Re:So, what? A month, six months, a year?

[ibsteve2u]

lolll...no, the Roman Empire - its power structure, and so its government - took about three decades to decay to the point that Alaric could sack Rome on August 24, A.D. 410.

About as long as "flood-up/trickle-down" economics has been dictating policy in the U.S., in fact.