Solar Cells Info

Richard Swanson, SunPower’s President, says there is no equivalent of Moore’s Law in solar, but other things work in the industry’s favor.
by: Ucilia Wang, November 26, 2008
Source: GreenTechMedia.com
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/
the-long-and-winding-solar-road-qs-dick-swanson-5277.html

Solar CEOs like to complain these days about the lack of capital and the difficulty of getting their companies off the ground.  They should talk to Richard Swanson. As a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford in the 70s and 80s, he emerged as a leader in solar research. He co-founded SunPower back in 1985 to capitalize on the growing interest in alternative energy. Still, the company lived from project to project until Cypress Semiconductor invested $150 million into the company in 2002.
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Source: ScienceDaily, Nov. 26, 2008
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081126133435.htm

Currently, solar cells are difficult to handle, expensive to purchase and complicated to install. The hope is that consumers will one day be able to buy solar cells from their local hardware store and simply hang them like posters on a wall.  A new study by researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has shown that the dream is one step closer to reality. Reporting in the Nov. 26 edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Yang Yang, a professor of materials science and engineering, and colleagues describe the design and synthesis of a new polymer, or plastic, for use in solar cells that has significantly greater sunlight absorption and conversion capabilities than previous polymers.
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Source: Nanowerk News, November 25, 2008
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=8370.php

You never know where basic research may lead. For decades materials scientists have been experimenting with a corkscrew-like polymer structure called a gyroid. Now an international team of researchers has shown that the gyroid structure can be used to “self-assemble” a low-cost photovoltaic cell. The idea could lead to more economical solar collectors and more efficient fuel cells. (more…)

Source: Frontier India Strategic & Defence, November 30, 2008
http://frontierindia.net/cae/mit-finds-ways-to-boost-solar-cell-efficiency/183/

New ways of squeezing out greater efficiency from solar photovoltaic cells are emerging from computer simulations and lab tests conducted by a team of physicists and engineers at MIT.  Using computer modeling and a variety of advanced chip-manufacturing techniques, they have applied an antireflection coating to the front, and a novel combination of multi-layered reflective coatings and a tightly spaced array of lines — called a diffraction grating — to the backs of ultrathin silicon films to boost the cells’ output by as much as 50 percent.
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Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 29
Source: www.chinaview.cn
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/30/content_10433372.htm

U.S. researchers have taken one step closer to creating high-efficiency solar cells using cheap plastic with a dash of silicon, it was announced on Saturday.  The solar cells, being developed by researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), have significantly greater sunlight absorption and conversation than previous polymers, the university said in a press release on its website.  The researchers want these easy-to-use plastic solar energy cells to be sold at local hardware stores, and then hung like posters on the wall, said the release.
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By Vanessa Ebbeling, Staff Writer, October 23, 2008
Source: PressConnects.com
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20081023/NEWS01/810230359/1001

Binghamton University researchers will use $4 million in federal money to develop cheap solar power technology that’s capable of producing and storing large amounts of energy.  The initiative — made possible by funds secured by U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey — will propel BU to the forefront of solar-energy research and could attract businesses to the area, officials said at a news conference Wednesday. (more…)

Builders find the savings from cheap power is making solar homes more attractive
By Adam Aston, BusinessWeek Magazine, October 23, 2008
Source: BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_44/
b4106088155598.htm?chan=rss_topEmailedStories_ssi_5

As global financial markets melted down in October, Congress handed a gift to America’s green energy industry: It renewed and broadened a set of tax credits for wind and solar power, geothermal, tidal energy, and more. The move did little to prop up eco-energy stocks, which have followed oil prices down. But the news did send a positive jolt to one of the economy’s darkest sectors: homebuilding. Or, more specifically, solar-powered homes. Consumers recognize that green homes “save money month in, month out,” says Rick Andreen, president of Shea Homes Active Lifestyles Communities in Scottsdale, Ariz. (more…)

Hong Kong , 25 October 2008
Source: News24.com
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2415709,00.html

A solar-powered lamp, which is as thin as a magazine cover and sticks onto most surfaces has been developed by a Hong Kong inventor, a media report said.  The lamp won designer Keikko Lee, 26, the gold price in South Korea’s first international design competition held in October, the South China Morning Post said.  Lee said the lamp has electroluminescent material on one side and solar panels and sensors on the other. (more…)

By Matt Nauman, San Diego, October 20, 2008
Source: San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10770837?source=most_emailed

The United States is poised to become the world’s largest user of solar power in the next decade, experts say, thanks in part to Silicon Valley innovation and the country’s vast land area and amount of sunshine.  And that title will bring an unexpected benefit: Manufacturing jobs arriving in the United States rather than being shipped overseas. Solar companies have determined that it makes economic sense to manufacture close to your market, because among other factors it reduces shipping costs. (more…)

By Julie Steenhuysen, Chicago, Oct 5, 2008
Source: Reuters.com
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE49429H20081005

U.S. researchers have found a way to make efficient silicon-based solar cells that are flexible enough to be rolled around a pencil and transparent enough to be used to tint windows on buildings or cars.  The finding, reported on Sunday in the journal Nature Materials, offers a new way to process conventional silicon by slicing the brittle wafers into ultrathin bits and carefully transferring them onto a flexible surface. (more…)