It's not really theology or philosophy related, but important enough I thought I'd mention it anyway. Up at the University of Toronto they've had a fairly significant breakthrough in solar cell technology. One reason solar cell technology hasn't caught on (in addition to aesthetics) is its relative low effeciency. Generally it also has relatively large up front costs. However the breakthrough is a leap in effeciency from around 6% to 30%. That's a huge jump and may lead to solar energy farms. The big question is what manufacturing costs will end up being. The research is probably a tad early for that right now. The other big point about the technology is that it is "wearable." i.e. you can put it in clothing to generate electricity. I'm not sure how effecient that is, although perhaps for hikers or even military troops that might be important. The big issue is whether this may, in 10 - 15 years, lead to a switch-over from coal and oil in electric power generation. Something important if the hydrogen economy ever works out its bugs and gets going. (Or if electric cars solve their battery problems)
Whoops, forgot to provide the link.
From what I understand theoretical efficiency of Solar cells are close to 60%, but currently the best industrially produced cells are around 30%.
Organic cells have been recently reported at 12% and plastic cells (as your post), which have the potential of being easier to mass produce and consequently cheaper, are, as the article says, at 6%. They are estimating that they can get up to 30%, which is respectably optimistic.
Good corrects. Thanks. I should have looked up maximum efficiency. Here's an article from New Scientist from a few years back. Still, the problem with traditional solar cells is in deployment.
The real issue, as I mentioned, is upfront cost. 30% efficiency doesn't matter over 12% efficiency if it costs so much more to produce. As you mention though, this type of solar cell ought to be cheaper to build not to mention deploy. The big issue though will be those costs.
I've closed comments in order to avoid spam since I don't check this older blog as much anymore.
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Blogged by Clark Goble