Vinod Kohsla, the founder of Sun Microsystems, who is now an alternative-energy venture capitalist, has discovered a new technology that will increase solar yield by 2-3 times what it is today. In an industry that lauds even the most incremental gain, this is a huge leap towards mainstream solar energy.

The new technology really isn’t new at all its simply using the heat behind solar panels and harnessing it for additional energy. This technology not only provides an additional heating source for a hot water heater or heating in the winter, it also helps the solar panels to cool. The hot air is moved by a small fan that pumps it to wherever the heat is needed and additionally adds more efficiency to the solar panels by cooling them down.

“We make around 100 percent more energy than a regular PV system,” said Gordon Handelsman, president of PVT Solar. Although no specifics numbers were given on specs or how many they have installed, they said have successfully installed between 10 and 20 units.

via nytimes

Tags: efficiency, solar

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