# Perhaps the Biggest Solar Energy Announcement in Years **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 28, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349 "2009-01-28T04:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349/1 "2009-01-28T04:06:37Z")
[Ladies and gentlemen, it looks like solar panels just became the **most** viable form of renewable energy.](http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2512/) > [@](#): > > Shawn-Yu Lin, a professor of physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has developed an anti-reflective coating (actually seven layers of coating) that raise the absorption of a solar panel to almost 100 percent. A typical silicon solar cell with this anti-reflective coating will absorb 96.21 percent of the sunlight that strikes it, and less than 4% of the light is reflected. The description of the coating makes it almost sound like a black hole. > [@](#): > > Typical antireflective coatings are engineered to transmit light of one particular wavelength. Lin’s new coating stacks seven of these layers, one on top of the other, in such a way that each layer enhances the antireflective properties of the layer below it. These additional layers also help to “bend” the flow of sunlight to an angle that augments the coating’s antireflective properties. This means that each layer not only transmits sunlight, it also helps to capture any light that may have otherwise been reflected off of the layers below it. If it can be made cheap enough, then it looks like dang near everything is going to be solar powered. (This will _also_ be a big boon to NASA, since they’ll be able to use _smaller_ solar panels, and be able to use them farther out in the solar system.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349/2 "2009-01-28T04:12:41Z")
Curb your enthusiasm… Absorbing light was never the problem. Black paint will do that, and current panels are already pretty black. The problem is making sure it’s absorbed in such a way as to produce electricity, instead of just heat. Now, it’s quite plausible that this new coating will improve the efficiency of solar panels, but I wouldn’t bet on it being by all that much. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349/3 "2009-01-28T04:17:32Z")
Sure, sunlight can solve our energy problems for the next 5 billion years or so. But what then? ---
**Author:** ![Heller\_Highwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@Heller\_Highwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heller_Highwater)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349/4 "2009-01-28T04:18:44Z")
Yeah. I hate to say it, but the problem isn’t just absorbing light. Given that the current efficiency is something around 10% or less of photons absorbed into useful electricity (I’m sort of pulling that number out of my ass, but I’m pretty sure it’s in the ballpark – I can dig for some cites if asked), that’s the major limitation on solar panel efficiency. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349/5 "2009-01-28T04:43:34Z")
> [@Heller\_Highwater](#): > > Yeah. I hate to say it, but the problem isn’t just absorbing light. Given that the current efficiency is something around 10% or less of photons absorbed into useful electricity (I’m sort of pulling that number out of my ass, but I’m pretty sure it’s in the ballpark – I can dig for some cites if asked), that’s the major limitation on solar panel efficiency. [These are over 20%](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514154702.htm). ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349/6 "2009-01-28T12:04:07Z")
> [@Heller\_Highwater](#): > > Yeah. I hate to say it, but the problem isn’t just absorbing light. Given that the current efficiency is something around 10% or less of photons absorbed into useful electricity (I’m sort of pulling that number out of my ass, but I’m pretty sure it’s in the ballpark – I can dig for some cites if asked), that’s the major limitation on solar panel efficiency. All commercial panels are greater than that, some are over 20%. However, efficiency is not the big issue - there’s plenty of sunlight. The limiting factor is $/Watt. In other words, a 5% efficient panel that only cost 25¢/Watt would probably do more to increase PV’s market penetration than a 50% efficient panel at $3/Watt. ---
**Author:** ![Heller\_Highwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@Heller\_Highwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heller_Highwater)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349/7 "2009-01-28T16:21:32Z")
Okay…looks like I was off by a factor of two at least. (Thanks for the link, **Tuckerfan**.) Still, that’s a relatively abysmal efficiency, from my perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349/8 "2009-01-28T17:27:50Z")
> [@Heller\_Highwater](#): > > Okay…looks like I was off by a factor of two at least. (Thanks for the link, **Tuckerfan**.) Still, that’s a relatively abysmal efficiency, from my perspective. [According to **Una** , the average efficiency for a coal powered electric plant is only around the low-30s or so.](http://65.69.77.33/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19390&perpage=20&highlight=efficiency&pagenumber=3) Not that big of a jump in terms of efficiency to go from about 20-22% to the low-30s. [Some solar **thermal** plants have already hit that point.](http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2008/solargrid.html) ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perhaps-the-biggest-solar-energy-announcement-in-years/483349/9 "2009-01-28T17:30:00Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Sure, sunlight can solve our energy problems for the next 5 billion years or so. But what then? Let me guess… you recently read the [Asmiov story](http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html) that was posted here.