Laser Scribing Promises More Efficient Solar Cells

cylonlover writes "A new manufacturing method that incorporates laser technology may result in thin film solar panels that are less expensive and more efficient than anything presently on the market. Currently, a stylus is used to mechanically etch microchannels into such panels, which electrically connect the individual solar cells and allow them to form an array. Researchers from Indiana's Purdue University, however, are developing a technique in which an ultrafast pulsing laser is used to do the etching. Not only will it hopefully be quicker and cheaper than mechanical 'scribing,' but it should also produce cleaner, sharper microchannels that offer superior performance."

Re:Supply and Demand Problem

[mark-t]

Limited availability of silicon?

On this planet?

Not bloody likely.

The limiting factor will be the limited availability of the production facilities, not the raw materials.

sadly, most green tech still not cost effective

[bzipitidoo]

That was my conclusion also. Add to that the high chance your investment will become obsolete, and photovoltaics are really not worth doing. I'd like the payback to be no more than 10 years.

Solar thermal, that is, heating water, is a better bet. No $10000 inverter and battery system needed to collect all those DC outputs and convert them to 120V AC or whatever standard you're on. Efficiency is much higher too. Last I heard, commercially available photovoltaics are still around only 15% to 20%, while thermal can conceivably reach 100%. At the least, I'm waiting for those 40% efficiencies labs are reporting on experimental photovoltaics. And better batteries, and cheaper inverters.

Had quite a few storm window salespeople try to persuade me to upgrade the cruddy original windows on our 70's house. I worked out the math for a 10 year return, and concluded the absolute most I could justify was $4000, and that was pushing it, being very generous with the estimates on energy savings and supposed increase in the value of the home. If it could be done for $2000, it was definitely worth doing. But they couldn't get under $6000. That we already have a fairly efficient A/C (12 SEER, not quite up to the current mandated minimum of 13 SEER) doesn't help their case.

I did convert a 40 watt fluorescent fixture to the newer slimmer 32 watt standard. That wasn't worth doing either, but it didn't cost much, and I was curious. 32 watts works great.

Does your HOA allow clotheslines? I use a rack indoors. Ditching the clothes dryer is huge, and most people have no idea. But when I mention it, I always see the knee jerk refusal to change kick in. People love the damn things.

Re:With all these recent findings...

[adolf]

Agreed. I've looked into solar, and even in the best case, it's expensive enough on a household scale that getting off-grid and having it pay for itself is a very far-away proposition: FFS, the roof under the panels is likely to need repaired before the panels themselves have returned their investment... And nevermind ice damage (sure the homeowner's insurance will cover it, but at what cost?) or other acts of God: In Ohio, we gets every sort of weather there is except for hurricanes.

And so, such is the payback period on a big solar array that I often refer to the calculations espoused by solar proponents as being "new math."

That said, solar isn't always big and difficult-to-justify. There are other applications which are far more useful, and some of them are rather small:

I (just the other day) bought a solar panel from Lowe's, for the paltry sum of about $17, despite having shunned solar power for every purpose except for electronic calculators and other toys since I was a kid.

I'm not going to use it to help bring my house off the grid. And I'm not going to use it to solve world hunger.

Instead, I'm going to use it to try to spend less money on car batteries: My daily driver has been consuming batteries about once every 12 months ever since I put a Garmin GPS and keyless entry/remote start into it, and has subsequently twice left me to jump-start the car on very cold winter mornings. (And no, I can't be bothered with turning the GPS off: The time-to-first-fix is sufficiently annoying that such a simple solution isn't really useful to me.)

Sure, I could buy a battery with a longer replacement warranty, but it's a real hassle to get them swapped out, and screwing The Man in this way is (at best) dishonest. I could also get a fancy-pants battery like an Ultima, but that doesn't fit easily into my car, and it's not a solution that is likely to actually save me any money.

For $17, the miniscule several Watts of power produced on the brightest of days should serve well to keep things charged. This will reduce wear on the battery (fewer, or less-intense discharge/charge cycles), and will in turn improve longevity. (I live in the north, and generally park with the rear window facing the south: Rear-deck solar panel == Win.)

I expect to be monetarily paid back within the next year or two, or way more if it means that my existing battery never needs jumpstarted again once it turns cold out and the solar charger prevents me from being late for a job.

I'll likely also take it hiking, if I ever find the time to do any of that again: Keeping a phone charged for the price of a few ounces of photovoltaic strapped to my backpack sounds a whole lot more useful than keeping a bunch of alkalines on hand, and periodic radar maps from the Droid sound like they'd be a really awesome thing in the mountains (along with its battery-powered offerings of proper GPS and a backup magnetic compass in the odd event that I get lost and lose my other compass).

And depending on how my measurements in the car work out, I'll be buying another one for the battery in the lawn mower, since at this price even such a small and cheap battery would be well-served to have a bit of help over the winter and during the days when the grass is growing but isn't ready to cut.

I might even buy one for the 32-year-old Firebird, even though it has no history of battery issues (when I turn it off, it's off), just because it spends most of its days sitting in the driveway and it often goes several weeks (or months, if it's wet/cold out) between runs.

Now, of course: All of these vehicular charging applications would be more-effectively served by just plugging in a small trickle charger whenever they're not in use, but that's a pain in the ass involving extension cords and nonexistent outside outlets, any of which would cost more than this little solar widget did -- and I can't take it with me, plus the installation is would be more difficult and time-consuming than this simpl