1. In terms of the shape of the cell, I think Solyndra has it right in making cylindrical solar cells. They don’t have to be mounted at an angle. They can be mounted flat which saves installation costs and makes them more durable because they will be more wind resistant. They can collect both direct and diffuse light and stay cooler b/c there is space between each solar tube.

nanoantenae solar sheet

2. You had to have figured that nanotechnology would make its way into this idea…so instead of tubes wrapped in the copper-indium-gallium-selenide like the Solyndra solar tubes, they could be wrapped in the nanoantenae solar sheet created by the Idaho National Labs. These solar sheets have up to 80% of the available energy in light as opposed to the ~20% offered right now. It can absorb infrared energy as well which is given off by the sun, absorbed by the earth, and released later. This means it can collect energy at night, and it is flexible, so it can be wrapped on to the tubes.

3. We will then pull from the 12 year old William Yuan’s research into nanotubes and increase the absorbtion of light energy into the ultraviolet range. This will enable our super solar cell to absorb energy in the infrared and ultraviolet ranges which are both able to penetrate cloud cover. No need to worry about that rainy day, our super solar cell will do just fine.

Solyndra solar tubes

4. MIT researchers have come up with a way to combine solar and hydrogen power to store solar energy. It would split and recombine hydrogen and oxygen atoms within the fuel cell. This would help power homes at night when the nanoantenae solar cells are only collecting the radiant infrared light absorbed from the earth. The extra power would be needed at night b/c more lights are turned on and assuming we are all headed toward the electric car…our cars would need to be charged.

5. While our super solar cells are already efficient, they will still produce heat. So in order to increase efficiency once again, we will use technology from PVT Solar. This improves efficiency by focusing on the heat generated by the solar cells and converting into something useful. Underneath the solar tubes another system of tubes would exist to pump the hot air into the home or be used to heat water allowing the converted energy of the system to be used for electrical purposes.

All of these technologies are relatively inexpensive and would make it more affordable to the average person. It should be implemented on a home by home basis rather than be powered from a grid b/c it would prevent blackouts and we should be able to use and produce our own electricity. I don’t know that the government would allow everyone to disconnect from the grid and lose all the tax money that comes from the it but this is possible in the next 10 years. All the technology is available, and most of them should be available to the public in the next few years.

photo credit psy

via nytimes, cleantechnica, presskit

Well according to Solyndra, the company who makes these cylindrical solar cells, many factors are not taken into consideration. “With a cylinder, we are collecting light from all angles, even collecting diffuse light,” says CEO Chris Gronet, who founded the solar cylinder company in 2005 based on an idea he had late one night while pondering less expensive ways to install photovoltaic panels. Because the arrays do not have to be angled or anchored into the roof, he adds, “we have half the installation cost and can install in one third the time.”

These cells essentially look like dark flourescent light bulbs and have many advantages over their flat counterparts.

Solyndra is now churning out copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells, wrapped into a cylindrical shape and encased in glass. This design not only seals out moisture but allows the glass to act as a sunlight concentrator, funneling photons onto the thin film, according to Gronet. He says the Fremont plant, which opened in the spring, will ultimately be capable of producing 110 megawatts worth of solar cylinders annually, but he declined to specify how many cylinders that is.

The company says that the solar cylinders—paired with a roof painted white to better reflect sunlight—can collect 20 percent more sunshine than their conventional flat counterparts. The estimate is based on 50 kilowatts worth of the tubular cells that the company installed on its own roof.

As it stands, Solyndra’s CIGS solar cells convert as much as 14 percent of the sunlight that hits them to electricity and, all told, Gronet expects that a Solyndra system will deliver twice as many kilowatt-hours of electricity from a given rooftop.

The cylindrical design also allows Solyndra to lay its arrays flat and to space them so that the wind can flow through them, rather than lift them up like it can with angled arrays. This means that the solar cylinders can be installed without affixing them onto the roof—and still withstand up to 130 mile-per-hour (209 kilometer-per-hour) winds.

via sciam