Capturing Solar Energy with Low-Cost Materials

Low-cost solar energy is the way to go for our home!

At my home, saving money is almost everything.  Yes, we want to live green.  Yes, we want to lower our carbon footprint.  But tell us how to capture solar energy with low-cost materials…. and….. well, you had me at “low-cost.”

Truth be told, cost is often cited as a major pitfall when it comes to converting to renewable energy – particularly with respect to solar power.  But, for those of us that are excited about solar technologies, the development of efficient solar panels has become more realistic, cheaper and easier.

Add to the lower cost of the materials some pretty generous state and federal tax incentives/rebates, and you don’t want to miss the boat as far as going green and saving some green!

So what is new in the solar tech world?  How about use of economic synthesis methods with sulphur-based compounds (chalcopyrites)?  No, I am not making these words up!  Researchers and scientists will understand what I’m saying.

Explained Purificación Escribano, chair of Inorganic Chemistry:

“Thin films for photovoltaic applications are obtained through expensive processes of synthesis that need to be optimized.  We decided to propose a low-cost synthesis process for the preparation of films based on the structure of chalcopyrite as an alternative to silicon, which is a highly efficient material but costly to obtain.”

University of Delaware

Research is continuing in the German laboratory of Hahn-Meitner Institute in Berlin and in the Institute of Energy Conversion at the University of Delaware.  Studies are aiming to find more suitable, low-cost materials for development of thin film solar.

Using chalcopyrite-based technologies is considered to be promising for producing large-scale PV modules at a reduced cost.  The high performance, stable alternative with a lower price point will open up more markets for the photovoltaic industry.

Escribano also explained that the research has enabled them to:

“provide a material that is deposited like a film with applications in very efficient systems for storage of photovoltaic energy. A less expensive method has been proposed and more work will need to be done to optimize it but there is no doubt that an important step has been taken.”

Big words aside, the bottom line here is that this new solar technology will reduce the cost of solar panels due to use of less expensive materials, and a simplified manufacturing process.

I can certainly understand that!