In the mid-1880s, Charles Fritts built the first solar cell formed by selenium coated with a thin layer of gold and with an energy efficiency of 1%. However, it was not until 1954 that Bell Labs discovered accidentally that would be the first commercial solar cell, with silicon as the base. (more…)

Today, photovoltaic cells only contribute a small proportion (approximately 0.04 percent) of total electricity in the United States. At the same time the production of solar panels has growth rapidly per year by around 20% growth in the 1990s and photovoltaic panels prices decreases every year. Annual worldwide solar panel production (including solar panels with homemade solar power homes) is about 400 MW per year. Based on the total cumulative capacity figure, it is already reaching 2 GW. (more…)

So-called thin-film photovoltaic devices are usually based on mixtures of elements other than silicon — most notably copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) — applied in a thin layer to plastic, even organic, components. Using nanotechnology and advanced materials science, thin film is able to produce power with a fraction of the materials. Similar techniques are being tried using ultra thin layers of silicon on a glass substrate, reducing what is now a 250 - micrometer (um) - thick wafer to less than 20 um. (more…)

Some people may doubt about the ability of these alternative power sources - to much like science fiction they may say. But then you can remind them that using the sun for heating to the point of combustion has been around since the time of the Greeks. The Egyptians used the sun to reflect on highly polished brass mirrors in order to light the interior of the pyramids for the workers to be able to see. (more…)