Good to install Solar Panel now ?

[ucodegen]

I would like to install solar panel but I think the technology is still in its infancy. I constantly read about new break through in solar tech. They’re talking about being able to get the cell to be so efficient and flexible that you can use it as your window

Already here.. Sun Tech Power.. Efficiency will always be a problem. The ‘window’ types will be less efficient because they are passing through light that might normally be converted.

[an]

[quote=ucodegen]
Already here.. Sun Tech Power.. Efficiency will always be a problem. The ‘window’ types will be less efficient because they are passing through light that might normally be converted.[/quote]
I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers. We’ll get to a point where it’ll be much much cheaper and even the cheapest product will be able to satisfy most people’s needs. It was only about 10 years ago where a color scanner was $1000, now it’s <$100. It was only about 10 years ago where we were using 166MHz CPU w/ hard drive space around 80MB. Now, we're talking about 3GHz CPU and 2TB. I full expect solar tech to have the same exponential improvements.

[an]

[quote=ucodegen]
Already here.. Sun Tech Power.. Efficiency will always be a problem. The ‘window’ types will be less efficient because they are passing through light that might normally be converted.[/quote]
I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers. We’ll get to a point where it’ll be much much cheaper and even the cheapest product will be able to satisfy most people’s needs. It was only about 10 years ago where a color scanner was $1000, now it’s <$100. It was only about 10 years ago where we were using 166MHz CPU w/ hard drive space around 80MB. Now, we're talking about 3GHz CPU and 2TB. I full expect solar tech to have the same exponential improvements.

[an]

[quote=ucodegen]
Already here.. Sun Tech Power.. Efficiency will always be a problem. The ‘window’ types will be less efficient because they are passing through light that might normally be converted.[/quote]
I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers. We’ll get to a point where it’ll be much much cheaper and even the cheapest product will be able to satisfy most people’s needs. It was only about 10 years ago where a color scanner was $1000, now it’s <$100. It was only about 10 years ago where we were using 166MHz CPU w/ hard drive space around 80MB. Now, we're talking about 3GHz CPU and 2TB. I full expect solar tech to have the same exponential improvements.

[an]

[quote=ucodegen]
Already here.. Sun Tech Power.. Efficiency will always be a problem. The ‘window’ types will be less efficient because they are passing through light that might normally be converted.[/quote]
I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers. We’ll get to a point where it’ll be much much cheaper and even the cheapest product will be able to satisfy most people’s needs. It was only about 10 years ago where a color scanner was $1000, now it’s <$100. It was only about 10 years ago where we were using 166MHz CPU w/ hard drive space around 80MB. Now, we're talking about 3GHz CPU and 2TB. I full expect solar tech to have the same exponential improvements.

[an]

[quote=ucodegen]
Already here.. Sun Tech Power.. Efficiency will always be a problem. The ‘window’ types will be less efficient because they are passing through light that might normally be converted.[/quote]
I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers. We’ll get to a point where it’ll be much much cheaper and even the cheapest product will be able to satisfy most people’s needs. It was only about 10 years ago where a color scanner was $1000, now it’s <$100. It was only about 10 years ago where we were using 166MHz CPU w/ hard drive space around 80MB. Now, we're talking about 3GHz CPU and 2TB. I full expect solar tech to have the same exponential improvements.

[ucodegen]

I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers.

Not really. The reason why has to do with quantum physics. Each photon (quanta of light) has energy that is proportional to its frequency (hv with h being Planck’s constant and v being the frequency of that particular color of light). Sunlight has several ‘colors’ of light within it, therefore several different energies. Additionally each of these photons of different energies will yield a different voltage when converted to electricity. The last sentence is why it is not possible to go too much further in efficiencies. With a pair of wires, only one voltage can be generated. This means that photons with energies below the threshold (output voltage – barrier voltage) will be reflected or turned into heat. Photons with higher energies will convert to electricity but the energy above the conversion energy will be converted to heat.

There have been attempts to fix this with multi-layer, multi-tap solar cells, but these also have issues.

Moores law does not apply to everything.

[ucodegen]

I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers.

Not really. The reason why has to do with quantum physics. Each photon (quanta of light) has energy that is proportional to its frequency (hv with h being Planck’s constant and v being the frequency of that particular color of light). Sunlight has several ‘colors’ of light within it, therefore several different energies. Additionally each of these photons of different energies will yield a different voltage when converted to electricity. The last sentence is why it is not possible to go too much further in efficiencies. With a pair of wires, only one voltage can be generated. This means that photons with energies below the threshold (output voltage – barrier voltage) will be reflected or turned into heat. Photons with higher energies will convert to electricity but the energy above the conversion energy will be converted to heat.

There have been attempts to fix this with multi-layer, multi-tap solar cells, but these also have issues.

Moores law does not apply to everything.

[ucodegen]

I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers.

Not really. The reason why has to do with quantum physics. Each photon (quanta of light) has energy that is proportional to its frequency (hv with h being Planck’s constant and v being the frequency of that particular color of light). Sunlight has several ‘colors’ of light within it, therefore several different energies. Additionally each of these photons of different energies will yield a different voltage when converted to electricity. The last sentence is why it is not possible to go too much further in efficiencies. With a pair of wires, only one voltage can be generated. This means that photons with energies below the threshold (output voltage – barrier voltage) will be reflected or turned into heat. Photons with higher energies will convert to electricity but the energy above the conversion energy will be converted to heat.

There have been attempts to fix this with multi-layer, multi-tap solar cells, but these also have issues.

Moores law does not apply to everything.

[ucodegen]

I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers.

Not really. The reason why has to do with quantum physics. Each photon (quanta of light) has energy that is proportional to its frequency (hv with h being Planck’s constant and v being the frequency of that particular color of light). Sunlight has several ‘colors’ of light within it, therefore several different energies. Additionally each of these photons of different energies will yield a different voltage when converted to electricity. The last sentence is why it is not possible to go too much further in efficiencies. With a pair of wires, only one voltage can be generated. This means that photons with energies below the threshold (output voltage – barrier voltage) will be reflected or turned into heat. Photons with higher energies will convert to electricity but the energy above the conversion energy will be converted to heat.

There have been attempts to fix this with multi-layer, multi-tap solar cells, but these also have issues.

Moores law does not apply to everything.

[ucodegen]

I wouldn’t say it will always be a problem. Right now, the efficiency is in the teens and twenties. I think, when solar tech matures, we’ll get much higher efficiency numbers.

Not really. The reason why has to do with quantum physics. Each photon (quanta of light) has energy that is proportional to its frequency (hv with h being Planck’s constant and v being the frequency of that particular color of light). Sunlight has several ‘colors’ of light within it, therefore several different energies. Additionally each of these photons of different energies will yield a different voltage when converted to electricity. The last sentence is why it is not possible to go too much further in efficiencies. With a pair of wires, only one voltage can be generated. This means that photons with energies below the threshold (output voltage – barrier voltage) will be reflected or turned into heat. Photons with higher energies will convert to electricity but the energy above the conversion energy will be converted to heat.

There have been attempts to fix this with multi-layer, multi-tap solar cells, but these also have issues.

Moores law does not apply to everything.

[Coronita]

What is the life expectancy of a good solar panel? Just curious. 10 years or is it more?

[Coronita]

What is the life expectancy of a good solar panel? Just curious. 10 years or is it more?

[Coronita]

What is the life expectancy of a good solar panel? Just curious. 10 years or is it more?

[Coronita]

What is the life expectancy of a good solar panel? Just curious. 10 years or is it more?

[Author]

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