For anyone curious: Carbon Nanotubes, so this will likely not see the outside of a lab any time soon.
Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
51–60 of 127 posts
Re: Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
#52While this is a very interesting and ingenious development, what's needed for greater deployment are lower costs per unit of energy. Increasing efficiency will reduce the cost of land, but land isn't typically a huge factor in solar deployments. In this NREL analysis, land acquisition gets put into "Other Soft Costs" along with permitting, inspection, interconnection, sales tax, engineering, procurement, construction…
If you could multiply the efficiency of a given solar cell by 4, all else being equal, you would also reduce the manufacturing cost by 75%. From other comments, I am guessing this result doesn't give anything like that but one should keep in mind greater efficiency certainly could give great payoffs.
And installation costs, which are enormous.
Re: Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you consider cheap solar not a breakthrough? If I 30-year mortgaged some solar cells, I could put them on my house right now and save $20 a month on net because of reduced electricity costs
Well, in the grand scheme of things, photovoltaic cells were developed back when nuclear reactors began to appear as well. They are not a new technology, just something that is getting optimized diligently now. In that regard, the parent post is technically correct. But that view is focused too much on big shifts in the market, if you ask me. Smaller, more incremental steps have added up to amazing things around wind…
Oh, it's definitely amazing relative to where it was, just not to where it needs to be to compete.
Solar and wind is less than 1% of world energy consumption and is not expected to be more than 3-4% in 2040.
Energy is not a product/market problem it's a physics problem and we haven't had any major breakthroughs in that space for a long long time.
https://www.iea.org/weo/?fbclid=IwAR3eH1AFcRSPSEit8JINLCMvE_...
Re: Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
The primary issue with everything in this category is that plenty of things are possible in the lab or in theory which just isn't possible when applied in reality and at scale. Blame journalists for hyping this because of the climate change focus. I am involved in actively looking for better materials and better sources of energy. The reality is that there are no fundamental breakthroughs since oil and nuclear. No ma…
5000 classified patents per year in the US alone. No one else publishes a number. Modest estimate would be 200 000 over the last 30-40 years. Some of it must relate to energy.
Those patents aren't about fundamentals in physics. This is a physics problem not a product/market problem.
There are plenty of patents on energy just not many fundamental breakthroughs.
Re: Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
This has been discussed in several previous threads on HN. From what I’ve been able to gather, creative ways to reduce the energy consumption of A/C will require a change to building designs, and/or increase the cost and complexity of new buildings. Whereas the cost of running the A/C is up to the future tenant(s). This is why you see some companies applying eco friendly tech to some new buildings (Apple) but not in…
Interesting to contemplate what could be done to shift those incentives around. Obviously there are certifications (LEED), and there's straight-up regulation, but would there be a way to mandate that a builder or landlord is responsible for a portion of future HVAC expenses such that they are motivated to get this right upfront?
The market should (and has in the past) figured this out. Energy costs money, tenants want to spend less money. Tenants will pay more money up front to save themselves money down the line. Therefore landlords should have an incentive to build energy efficient structures even if they aren’t paying for the energy.
The problem is when an energy source with an high externality (climate related or otherwise) isn’t priced in. This isn’t a hard problem for the government’s perspective though: just price in the externality through some free market system. Carbon credits are a good example of this.
Re: Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
#56That really needs some editing, it reads like gibberish. Just go to the source: https://news.rice.edu/2019/07/12/rice-device-channels-heat-i...
I am especially infuriated by how it repeats a common misconception of infrared light as the epitome of "heat", as if it was some kind of separate particle.
I'm not infuriated, but having teachers and other adults conflate IR with heat certainly added to my confusion about the physical world when I was a child.
Re: Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
The primary issue with everything in this category is that plenty of things are possible in the lab or in theory which just isn't possible when applied in reality and at scale. Blame journalists for hyping this because of the climate change focus. I am involved in actively looking for better materials and better sources of energy. The reality is that there are no fundamental breakthroughs since oil and nuclear. No ma…
Why do you consider cheap solar not a breakthrough? If I 30-year mortgaged some solar cells, I could put them on my house right now and save $20 a month on net because of reduced electricity costs
And you can use them to power your watch perfectly fine too.
That doesn't mean it will work at scale for society which is the primary issue.
The key thing to look for is energy density as that will be more likely to give society a bang for the buck.
Distributing solar cells out with the capacity factor of solar isn't economically feasible for society and neither possible as a main source of energy.
Nuclear and Hydro to some extent Thermal none of them are in vogue.
Re: Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
#58Is Rice University located in Asia?
Re: Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you consider cheap solar not a breakthrough? If I 30-year mortgaged some solar cells, I could put them on my house right now and save $20 a month on net because of reduced electricity costs
And you can use them to power your watch perfectly fine too. That doesn't mean it will work at scale for society which is the primary issue. The key thing to look for is energy density as that will be more likely to give society a bang for the buck. Distributing solar cells out with the capacity factor of solar isn't economically feasible for society and neither possible as a main source of energy. Nuclear and Hydro…
These are arbitrary metrics, why does energy density matter for anywhere which has the space? Even in Northern latitudes and high density countries you can generate a lot of electricity with a nominal amount of land. All the more if they can be fitted on rooftops. For sunny places near deserts it can absolutely provide a big percentage, even a dominant percentage of power. The main issue is matching demand to supply, production density is a distant concern.
Re: Rice University researchers propose a way to boost solar efficiency
#60[deleted]