New Solar Panels Made with More Common Metals Could be Cheaper and More Sustainable
With enough sunlight falling on home roofs to supply at least half of America’s electricity, scientists today described advances toward the less-expensive solar energy technology needed to roof many of those homes with shingles that generate electricity.
Shingles that generate electricity from the sun, and can be installed like traditional roofing, already are a commercial reality. But the advance ? a new world performance record for solar cells made with “earth-abundant” materials ? could make them more affordable and ease the integration of photovoltaics into other parts of buildings, the scientists said.
Their report was part of a symposium on sustainability at the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, being held here this week. Abstracts of other presentations appear below.
“Sustainability involves developing technology that can be productive over the long-term, using resources in ways that meet today’s needs without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their needs,” said Harry A. Atwater, Ph.D., one of the speakers. “That’s exactly what we are doing with these new solar-energy conversion devices.”
Source: Science Codex