Scientists pioneer 'breakthrough' cheap energy solar panels - 03/08/2010
US researchers have developed a new process designed to make cheap energy solar panels more efficient.
According to scientists at Stanford University, the technique, called photon enhanced thermionic emission, harnesses both the light and heat of solar radiation and could double the efficiency of electricity-generating solar panels.
Unlike current solar panels, which become less efficient as temperatures rise, panels using the photon enhanced thermionic emission technique continue to work well at higher temperatures and are made with cheap and easily available materials.
Researchers said the new technique could lower the costs involved in solar energy production to the point where it becomes competitive with oil as an energy source.
Nick Melosh, a professor at Stanford University, said: "This is really a conceptual breakthrough, a new energy conversion process, not just a new material or a slightly different tweak. It is actually something fundamentally different about how you can harvest energy."
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