WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: TechStuff Shines Light on Solar Panels 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.680 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.479 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.000 and I love all things tech. It is time for 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:24.320 a classic episode. This episode originally published on October two. 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:29.640 It is titled tech Stuff Shines Light on Solar Panels. 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:34.040 So we get down to the technology of solar power 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:36.600 and how it all works. And you know, whether or 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.360 not it makes sense. It doesn't make sense for everybody, 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.040 as it turns out, But let's listen in on this 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.040 classic episode. You know what, it's been a while since 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.519 we've done an episode about solar panels. Yeah, since August 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:51.240 two thousand eleven, I believe, in fact, back when Chris 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:53.160 Paulette was on the show. Yep. So we did an 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:55.560 episode back then and we thought we would update it. 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:57.880 So here's the update. We're going to start off with 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.640 a little bit of background on how all those solar 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.480 panels actually work. Your basic solar panels tend to be 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:09.120 made out of silicon and then dope silicon, dope impure, 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:14.320 purposefully impure silicon. Right, that silicon is dope you so, uh, 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:16.720 And there's another. Oh, I got the hands over the 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:21.720 face this time, guys. Awesome, that's a that's a pure wind. No, okay, 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:25.280 So silicon. The reason why we're using silicon in solar 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.959 panels is that, you know, if you remember your illustrations 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:32.800 of atoms, they have the electron shells on the outside 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.240 of the atom, and those electron shells can hold a 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.240 certain number of electrons depending upon what which energy shell 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:42.800 you're talking about. Now, silicon has some free electrons in 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:47.360 its outermost shell, meaning that not every single space that 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:49.560 can hold an electron has an electron. And when I 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:51.760 say space, I just mean the number of electrons that 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:56.040 can inhabit at outer shell. Since they're they are free, 0:01:56.200 --> 0:02:01.120 then silicon can bond with something else, like other silicon atoms. 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:02.920 So if you can have it bond with lots of 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:06.600 silicon atoms, you then create a silicon crystal. If you 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.120 then bombard this silicon crystal that has been doped in 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:14.600 various ways, either with ions that have a negative charge 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.480 or ions to have a positive charge, you can then 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.880 induce electrons to flow. Now, in our article on how 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.040 stuff works dot Com about how solar panels work, there's 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:27.520 an healthful analogy there, right, it's about uh kind of 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.400 talking about hills, right. It's saying that essentially when when 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:34.080 you create when you create one of these cells with 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.320 a with the negative side and a positive side, it's 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:40.280 going to create an electron flow that's downhill, right, Meaning 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:42.240 that like if you were to have a rock and 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:44.480 you pushed it down the hill, it would roll down 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:46.560 the hill, but it wouldn't roll back up the hill. 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.360 There there'd be that blocking mechanism to keep it from 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:53.120 going up the hill. Uh. In the case of silicon 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:57.200 based solar cells, the photon is kind of that initial 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.760 push that gets the rock rolling. So if the photon 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.600 is strong enough to push the rock and get it moving, 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:08.320 everything's cool. You're actually you're gathering energy through solar power. 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:12.079 So the photon hits the silicon crystals that are doped 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.160 so that you're it's not just a pure silicon crystal 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.720 all the way through. That gives energy to allow electrons 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:22.560 to break clear of what is called the band gap. 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.320 That allows the electrons to break free of their bonds 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.200 and flow through a pathway. Now they want to get 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.360 to the negatively charged electrons, want to get to a 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:37.160 more positively charged environment. But if you have a barrier 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.320 there so that they can't just crossover, they you know, 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.080 you get this potential energy, but you don't have any 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.960 real energy. But if you make a pathway from negative 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.400 to positive, then the electrons will travel that pathway to 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:51.560 get to that positive site because that's really where they 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.200 want to be. That's that's the awesome place for them. 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.960 And if you make them do work along the way, 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.960 you get a benefit from it. So like that work 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:03.200 might be lighting a light bulb, or it might be 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.160 opening the doors on the enterprise. I've been reading a 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.839 lot about star Trek recently. Um anyway, the work could 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.720 be whatever you could imagine an electronic circuit, and the 0:04:13.760 --> 0:04:15.440 electrons are going to go and do it because it 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.240 means they get to be on the positive party on 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:19.440 the other side. It's just like b if you tell 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.400 me there's a positive party on the other side, I'm 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:22.960 willing to do a lot of work to get there. 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.840 I'm not on a lot of lists anyway. So this 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.800 is the basic premise of a solar panel. You have 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.560 the photons providing the initial energy. Now, not all photons 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:38.159 are created equally. We have lots of different frequencies of light. Right, 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:40.280 And so some photons have a really low amount of 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:42.640 energy and are only going to be able to excite 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.560 certain types of electron. Maybe maybe they can excite an electron. 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:50.200 If they don't have enough energy to equal what that 0:04:50.279 --> 0:04:53.200 band gap energy is, then they're not going to have 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:55.599 the push needed to get the electron to break free. 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.200 They might in fact flow right past that electron, which 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.800 will come in handy later on. Um. But but high energy, 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.680 high energy photons can either at a certain point, no 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.000 matter how much energy it has, you can't. You're you're 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.479 gonna lose a little bit if if it's got more 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.200 than it needs, right. Yeah. So for example, the example 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:15.840 I used in the old podcast, if you want to 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:18.039 go back and listen to that, is that let's say 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.520 that I'm capable of lifting a hundred ten pounds. I'm 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.920 actually able to lift more than that just then, you know, 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:27.640 but for the purposes of this example, pounds of my limit. 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:29.640 If you if you put a hundred pound weight in 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:31.400 front of me, no problem, I can lift it up. 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:33.800 You put to one pound weights in front of me, 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.039 I can lift one or the other, but not both 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.720 at the same time. However, you know, you sit there, 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:40.839 and you look at that from an energy perspective. I'm 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.080 capable of lifting a hundred ten pounds. I lift a 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.919 hundred pound weight. That means ten pounds of my lifting 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.280 power are going to waste. I can't it's not being utilized. 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.240 I'm not capturing it in some useful way. And in 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:57.320 the case of traditional photovoltaics, if Jonathan were that photon 0:05:57.440 --> 0:05:59.640 and you put to fifty pound weights in front of him, 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:02.640 he wouldn't be able to lift them both, only one. Yeah, 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.080 so we have to that. This is where we're starting 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.599 to get into some of the challenges that we face 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:12.760 with solar power. The big one there is efficiency. Maximizing 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.800 efficiency in solar panels is no easy task, and in 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.480 fact it's something that we've seen. If you were to 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:20.680 look at it from a big picture perspective, it looks 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.920 like really minor increases over the last couple of decades, 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.559 but in fact, every tiny increase means that you get 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.560 quite a bit of return on your investment, simply because 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:32.760 when we're talking about solar panels, were usually talking about 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.880 big arrays of solar panels, where a little improvement means 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.160 a lot of output in the in the long run, 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.760 and they've been so inefficient. Uh, you know, generally about 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:47.200 five of the potential energy of the sun is captured 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:51.640 by them. In fact, according to some sources, your typical 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:56.640 commercial solar cell will get you about nine return. So 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:00.400 of all the potential energy you could be gathered based 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:02.800 upon the photons that hit that panel is what you're 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:07.360 actually capitalizing on. Right, the theoretical maximum for silicon wave 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:10.760 for cells is about fifty percent efficiency, right, we just 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.320 don't get there. In fact, the current world world record 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.880 in a lab is only forty four point seven percent efficiency, 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.720 reached just this year by German and French researchers with 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.200 a four junction cell. And more on multijunction cells later 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.720 on in the podcast. But that's but that's an elaborator lab, 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.160 which means it's not it's not sunlight that you're doing. 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:35.119 You're bombarding that with specific kinds of light to check 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.840 on its on its efficiency levels when you get into 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:42.160 the field. Sometimes literally in the field, it's much lower. 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:46.880 In a field. Well, you know, in my mind, there's 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.400 there's one field and everything else is just a pathetic 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:55.400 copy field of dreams. What's I'm not sure what I 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:58.920 built it they came, that's all I'm saying. So then yeah, 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:03.280 that so we're talking about really low efficiencies when it 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:05.440 comes to how much energy is hitting it versus how 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.600 much you are actually gathering. On top of that, you 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.600 have to talk about the actual financial cost of solar cells. Right. 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.240 They're traditionally pretty expensive. And I think that you and 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:19.080 I both managed to compile completely different figures because there's 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:21.760 there's a few different ways that people talk about the 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.920 cost of solar panels. You've got the pure manufacturing before 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:29.040 they go into use, and then you've got the installation costs, 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:31.960 and then you've got maintenance costs. Yeah, there's there are 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.640 a lot of different costs associated with it. I was 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:38.480 going from a report that m I T created about 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.719 some improvements that people at m I T had made 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:44.920 to solar panels, and that report they said that solar 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:49.120 panels cost about seventy five cents per what of energy 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.440 UH and that in order to be UH to be 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.520 competitive against fossil fuels, it need to be closer to 0:08:55.600 --> 0:09:00.080 fifty cents per what. Now, that's just one method of 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.440 figuring out the expense. And and in fact, the report 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:07.440 did not say, like what which factors they took into account, 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:11.520 whether that also includes installation in there and maintenance as well, 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.840 or if that was purely from a manufacturing standpoint, The 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:19.640 point being that creating silicon based solar panels is not cheap. 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:23.679 It's getting less expensive over time. We're seeing improvements definitely. 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:25.800 So some numbers that I was saying, we're talking about 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.319 the pure manufacturing is of two thousand nine being over 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:32.640 a dollar per what um as maybe fifty cents per 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:36.920 what So, then you've got a and moving moving towards 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.880 to something like thirty six cents per what right, And 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.920 we're also going to talk about some alternatives that might 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.760 get that even lower. But we're seeing we're seeing the 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.000 cost of solar panels drop year over year, and that's 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.240 that's because of a lot of different factors. One is 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.000 that the materials are getting less expensive, We're getting better 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.280 at making them, We're getting better and making them with 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:02.199 cheaper material reels, we're getting better at installing them. I mean, 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.720 it's become more business as usual, and so more companies 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:08.240 are more used to installing these for people. Therefore, you know, 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:10.600 we have people with expertise in the field now that 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.440 we didn't have five years ago because it was really new, 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:18.240 and the manufacturing processes have become more streamlined over time. 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.320 It's just kind of the same with what we saw 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:24.280 with the computer industry and microprocessors initially. When you when 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:28.000 a new microprocessor hits the market, it tends to be 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:31.040 really expensive. And part of that is because the manufacturing 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.440 cost to create something brand new that has a brand 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:39.520 new architecture, it's using super sophisticated electronics that you know, 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:41.040 to pay off for that, you have to have a 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.560 pretty high price on your product. But as you get 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.480 more money, you can invest more in the manufacturing process, 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.000 make things more streamlined, you increase efficiency on the back end. 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.800 That means that you have lower costs, so then you 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.000 can actually lower the cost of the final product. Same 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.120 thing we're seeing in the solar panel industry. Yeah, and 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:00.080 I did want to put in that those numbers. If 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.880 you have yourself installed any kind of solar panels, you 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:05.920 are saying a dollar per what I wish um. And 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.439 that's because for private use installation costs will cost anywhere 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:13.760 from like three to six bucks these days, and per 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.800 per what right, And and that's um, that's a huge 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:18.440 improvement over the eight to ten that it was a 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.080 few years back, but in fact I remember seeing one 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.920 report and it was based out of the UK, which 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:27.080 is already kind of interesting because the UK is not 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:30.520 necessarily the ideal spot to have solar panels. They don't 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:33.520 have as much it's a little bit cloudier in general, 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.200 they can get a lot a lot of cloud cover, 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:37.920 just that's the climate in that region of the world. 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.520 But the report found that after about seven years of use, 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:44.200 the first seven years, you would essentially be offsetting that 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:47.600 cost of installation. After the seven years, you would essentially 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:51.040 have recaptured those costs, and apart from maintenance fees for 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:54.200 whatever purposes you would need, your energy production at that 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.440 point forward would be free. So you would then you know, 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:01.760 be be at a surplus, which is fantastic and the 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:06.160 same thing is generally true throughout the world. Um And 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:10.040 as we see these costs go down, both installation manufacturing, 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:14.040 both all of the cost installation manufacturing and maintenance going down, 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.240 then that will mean you don't have to wait as 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:21.000 long for this investment to pay off. Part of this 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.080 is depending on the market. Currently there is more supply 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:27.240 than there is demand for photovote takes and that's only 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:30.839 because it has been so expensive, and so I think 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:32.960 that as this price comes down, it's going to be 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.640 interesting to see how the market adjusts and whether we're 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:40.120 going to see a flattening a plateau prices or or 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:41.880 what's going to go on. And also, I mean this 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.959 also has to do with rare and toxic materials, which 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:48.199 you know, rare earth metals are a big component and 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:52.640 component and China is the chief producer of rare earth metals. 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:54.640 We've talked about that in a previous episode of tech 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:58.040 Stuff as well about you waste right, Yeah, well e 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.480 waste yes, that was one of the yeah in particular 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:02.560 was e ways, but rare earth metals. And I think 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:05.280 we have a specific episode just about rare earth metals 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:09.040 because we we wanted to explain what what they were, 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.040 why they're important, and why is it that China is 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.319 the main producer And the main reason that China is 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:18.080 the main producer is because it's super cheap to get 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:21.200 it from China, because China does not I I'm sure 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.240 they have fewer. The problem with rare earth metals is 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:28.200 that they all contain certain radioactive elements and also getting 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:32.960 them out can can release a lot of toxic stuff 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.720 and there, and in general, if you're doing that, you 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:39.400 tend to incur lots of expenses, except in China where 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:41.240 they don't care as much. Yeah, if you have fewer 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:43.640 regulations then it's a lot cheaper, but a lot more 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.040 dangerous for the people who are doing it and for 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:48.360 the environment, because, as it turns out, there are other 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.840 places on Earth that are rich, relatively speaking, in rare 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.120 earth metals. But it's the term rare earth metals doesn't 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.520 mean that there are very few of them in the earth. 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:58.760 That generally means that there are very few of them 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.600 concentrated in a single area, right, Yeah, So the mining 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.319 process is very different than you know, striking a vein 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.760 of say iron, and then being able to mind it. So, 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.160 and of course that's going to play into the other 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:13.120 podcasts that we're going to record next but has already published, 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:15.800 I believe. So if you've listened to our Minecraft episode, 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.840 just know that we haven't recorded it yet. Yeah, you've 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:23.320 actually traveled. I don't even know where you are now. Hey, guys, 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.360 it's Johnson from just breaking in here to say we're 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:28.680 going to take a quick break, but we'll be right 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:38.440 back so we've got efficiency, we've got cost, we have 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:42.040 the fact that there's these rare materials toxicity those that's 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:44.840 another challenge, h And another one is just the and 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.400 we talked about this briefly with the UK. It's just 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:50.840 the how how practical is it? Is it practical depending 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:52.960 upon where you are in the world, because if you 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.360 are someplace that does not get a lot of sun exposure, 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.480 then you're not going to reap the benefits of solar power. However, 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.680 if you live pretty near to say, the Majabi Desert, 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.000 you're in a decently good spot right exactly. And you know, 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:08.280 I've that we live in Atlanta, and I've seen homes 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.400 in Atlanta that have solar panels. In fact, there's some 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:12.120 that are very close to where I live that have 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.640 solar panels installed. Uh. And it's something that I've thought 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:17.400 about too. But it's another one of those things where 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.400 I would really need to have a kind of study 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:24.040 done about how much sun does my home really get? 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.680 Would I would I be doing? Would I be getting 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:30.720 a good return on my investment, meaning that if it's 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:32.160 going to be one of those things where I'm only 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.440 barely offsetting my energy costs, I might be doing more 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.440 harm than good by adding solar panels, especially you know 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.320 when you figure in maintenance fees and all that kind 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.400 of stuff in the in the process. So uh, you 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:45.920 know your mileage will vary depending upon how much sun 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:50.520 you get. So those are the basic challenges. Now what's 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.240 great is about solar panels is that we see lots 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:57.600 of different companies and engineers and scientists looking to address 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.760 these challenges in different ways. So people are coming at 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.200 this problem from all different directions, not just from solar panels, 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:09.160 but from huge collections of solar panels. Yeah, that's speaking 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.920 of the Majave Desert. Actually, there is a large solar 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:17.000 thermal farm being built in California right near the Nevada 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.600 border called ivan Pa. I didn't look up the pronunciation. 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.760 We're going to go with that, um, but so it's 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:29.480 like ian hoe. Yes, um, it's on some four thousand acres, 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.080 which is about sixteen square kilometers, which is something like 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:34.760 six square miles for anyone else who doesn't know what 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:39.480 on earth an acre is and heck tears, No, I'm 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:44.640 just kidding. Um. And so solar thermal farms as opposed 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:48.360 to classic solar farms which are just large collections of 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:52.520 these photovolt take plates use mirrors a k. A heliostats 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:55.240 if you want to use the technical science term for it, 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:59.920 um to concentrate sunlight into a tower, which then boils 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.960 water to create steam to turn a turbine to create 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:08.280 power or not create power, I'm sorry, generate energy. Yeah. 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.680 And this, this particular Ivan Power is using some one 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.520 D seventy thousand mirrors in fact, to concentrate the sunlight 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:22.760 onto three large like four a k at seven towers. 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:28.800 And yeah, it's it's pretty impressive. They it's set to 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.760 turn on this year. They first tower just went through 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.960 a power power cycle test and they green lit it. 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.360 They said good to go. So that's exciting. As at September, 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.919 we are recording this on October something something there you 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.800 go dates numbers only because it was right there on 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:53.120 my screen. N I guess it's online too. That's great. Um. 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.840 But yeah, but co location this is this is an 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.480 idea that we see in lots of different power strategies 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:04.720 where almost in almost everything we talk about when it 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:06.399 comes to power. In fact, I'll go so far as 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.200 to say in every form of power, we're talking about 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:12.120 heat is one of those factors that if you can 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.280 harness the heat as well as whatever it is you're 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:17.680 doing to generate the power in the first place, then 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.560 you can end up generating more power that way than 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:23.120 you would if you just let that heat dissipate into 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.840 the atmosphere. Sure, and these these thermal farms are a 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.520 little bit a little bit tricky in that you have 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:32.640 to have a really good location for them. I mean, 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:37.040 it's there aren't that many sixteen square kilometer areas just 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:39.159 kind of hanging out where people are willing to let 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:41.960 you completely disrupt an ecosystem in order to put down 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:43.800 a whole bunch of mirrors and a whole bunch of 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:47.800 really hot water towers, um, in order to generate energy. 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.800 Deserts are pretty good candidates, although part of the two 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.040 point two billion dollar cost of building this thing out 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:58.359 was a very expensive move of a threatened species of 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:02.159 desert tortoise from this area to to a safe place 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:06.119 where they wouldn't be boiled. Um. Yeah, yeah, I can 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:08.320 see where that would be a concern. I mean, you know, 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:12.160 it's we often will think about things like desert environments 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:16.160 as being practically like but now it's not like, it's 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:19.719 not like tattooing or Mars or Mars. Yeah, now, solar 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:23.159 solar farms on Mars. The solar Mars will not be 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:26.040 hurting for that, although they don't know you don't know 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:29.200 about the Martians. Well, also I don't know about the storms. 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.119 So the storms could also really block a lot of 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.000 the soul. Now that I think about it, you know, 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.080 maybe I shouldn't make such sweeping statements. But you know 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:39.480 there are of course, they're already solar panels on Mars. Yes, 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:42.840 that's thanks thanks to a couple of rovers out there. Um. 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:44.879 But yeah, this, this particular one is is set to 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.840 deliver some three seventy seven net mega watts of power 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:52.879 in uh as opposed to the three it's capable of 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.480 total You're you're always going to lose some in a 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:58.959 system like this, and which is about the same as 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.760 a medium sized also fuel plant. It's kind of sort 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:04.640 of and yeah, the two of the towers are going 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:07.119 to be selling to pgn E and the third is 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.320 going to be selling to Southern California Edison. And supposedly 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:14.359 the whole system is going to power some hundred forty homes. Right, 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:16.919 So here we're looking at a system that, while it 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.840 does have a huge initial cost, Uh, they are going 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.520 to be able to start selling to customers. I don't 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:25.879 know how long it will take them to recapture the 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:28.159 costs of building that place. I mean that's going to 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.479 take a while. You're two point two billion dollars. It's 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.600 no chump change, right. Yeah, they had their investments from 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:36.960 people like Google, and they were working partially on a 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:39.520 federal government loan. So some of that some of that 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.600 is offset, some of it's offset, sure, and then uh, 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:44.920 but on top of that, you're looking at a much 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.159 lower environmental impact in the long run compared to the 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:51.479 carbon dioxide emissions you would get from from a fossil 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:53.960 fuel plant. Right, And there has been some research on 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:58.160 The brook Haven National Laboratory released a study saying that 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:02.080 regardless of the technolog of the specific technology being used 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:06.639 in photovoltaics, they generate fewer harmful gas emissions, like some 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:12.160 fewer UM than anything fossil fuel related. So well, and 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:16.119 related to this is the concept of solar trackers. This 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:18.600 is something else that you can find at solar farms 0:21:18.680 --> 0:21:22.160 where uh, in this case, I'm talking about your more 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:25.159 traditional solar panels that are using photons to convert it 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:28.120 to electricity, as opposed to this approach where you're using 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:31.800 the solar the solar energy to heat water. But solar 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:34.840 trackers are kind of what they sound like. These are 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:38.600 devices that can track the movement of the Sun. Although 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:41.280 of course we know the Sun's movement is relative to 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:43.080 the Earth and there's spin and all that stuff. At 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.119 any rate, we're just gonna go with the movement of 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.800 the Sun across the horizon, across the sky, the pathway 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:50.920 across the sky. So you've got these solar panels. Not 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:53.240 all the solar panel panels are going to be angled 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:56.240 at a way where they're going to capture as much 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:58.880 sunlight as possible throughout any particular part of the day. 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:01.600 So what do you do. Well, you could mount the 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:04.320 solar panels on some sort of pivoting system that would 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:08.159 change throughout the day, or you create solar trackers that 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:16.399 are enormous mirrors mounted on some form of of Essentially 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.280 you're looking at something that can that can tilt so 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:21.840 that it will direct sunlight back down to the panels. Right, 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:25.600 So the panels are stationary that you don't move throughout 0:22:25.600 --> 0:22:28.680 the day. But the trackers, these enormous mirrors that can 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:31.520 move in relation to the way the sun's path takes 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:34.840 it across the sky, can continuously adjust so that the 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:38.680 sunlight is directed back to the solar panels, thus maximizing 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:42.160 the number of hours when you can collect sunlight. Because 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:44.560 that's another one of those challenges that we didn't really mention. 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:48.560 Sometimes the sun's not out, it might be you know, night, 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:50.919 or sometimes it's in a different place. You know, if 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:53.480 you if you cover say the west wall of your 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:56.919 house with solar panels, which is a terrible plan overall, 0:22:56.960 --> 0:22:59.440 don't do that, but um, that's the least efficient way 0:22:59.440 --> 0:23:01.440 of going about anything. Yeah, you're you're only going to 0:23:01.520 --> 0:23:04.960 get the western facing sun. Yeah, and even then, like 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:06.919 at different times of the year, you're not going to 0:23:06.960 --> 0:23:11.119 get as coverage exactly. Yeah. The the there will be 0:23:11.160 --> 0:23:13.760 sometimes the year where you will get more uh or 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:16.800 you'll get longer hours, not longer hours, but longer time 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:18.959 periods where the hours will stay the same, but you'll 0:23:19.000 --> 0:23:22.760 get longer period Yeah. Well, you know, back in my day, 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:25.840 hours used to be sixty three minutes long. But you know, 0:23:26.080 --> 0:23:29.760 the kids, Uh no, you get you'll have longer times 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:33.680 when you'll be able to collect sunlight. So these are 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:37.360 just little strategies to try and maximize that as much 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:41.320 as possible, so that even if the solar panel efficiency 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:44.160 is low, if you can maximize the amount of time 0:23:44.280 --> 0:23:48.879 that they receive sunlight, you still generate more power. We 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:52.280 have more to say about solar panels after this quick break, 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:03.040 all right, so let's talk a little bit about improving 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:07.280 solar panels um, not just making solar farms more efficient, 0:24:07.280 --> 0:24:09.840 but the actual panels themselves now, right, because there's a 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:12.960 lot of interesting materials science and even quantum science that's 0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:15.320 going on in this Yeah, you know, we can we 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:17.720 can always confuse that confuse things by adding the word 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:20.840 quantum in there. So, uh, one of them is one 0:24:20.840 --> 0:24:23.359 of the things we can do is look at introducing 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:26.800 some sort of film to put upon solar panels so 0:24:26.840 --> 0:24:29.639 that it reflects less light. That's one of the problems 0:24:29.680 --> 0:24:31.960 with solar panels is that some some photons when they 0:24:32.000 --> 0:24:34.199 hit the panel, we'll just bounce right off. Again. Silicon 0:24:34.280 --> 0:24:38.119 specifically is very shiny, and so so you're going to 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:41.040 lose more photons than you really want to in this 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:44.439 process of reflection. Right, So one way to increase efficiency 0:24:44.560 --> 0:24:47.680 is to make sure those photons don't get away. And 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:49.879 there are different ways of doing this, and one of 0:24:49.920 --> 0:24:54.280 them is to copy a certain insect, the moth, the moth, right, 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:56.640 I had heard about this, Yeah, so moth eyes. Now, 0:24:56.880 --> 0:24:59.399 let's talk a little bit about moth eyes. If you 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:02.040 were to get microscope and look at a moth's eye, 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:04.800 you know you've borrowed it from the moth. Maybe the 0:25:04.800 --> 0:25:06.879 moth has flown off a little eye patch and hook 0:25:06.960 --> 0:25:09.960 and it's gone to be a piratical moth. Meanwhile, you're 0:25:10.000 --> 0:25:11.840 looking at the moth's eye, you're gonna see there are 0:25:11.880 --> 0:25:15.760 these little micro structures, and those micro structures in the 0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:20.280 eye are they have a specific purpose. They reflect light 0:25:20.440 --> 0:25:23.239 back to the back of the moth's eye so that 0:25:23.280 --> 0:25:26.320 the moth can perceive more light. And a lot of 0:25:26.359 --> 0:25:29.400 animals have this, but moth eyes in particular are extremely 0:25:29.440 --> 0:25:31.760 efficient at doing so. Yeah. And if you've ever seen, 0:25:31.800 --> 0:25:33.520 like like a photograph of a cat and the eyes 0:25:33.560 --> 0:25:35.720 are glowing at you, that's because of a reflective layer 0:25:35.720 --> 0:25:37.840 at the back of the eye, which is which is 0:25:37.840 --> 0:25:39.760 reflecting light back into the right. Now. Yeah, no, in 0:25:39.800 --> 0:25:41.679 this case, we can really say that there are probably 0:25:42.000 --> 0:25:45.760 two big reasons for moths to have this particular micro 0:25:46.240 --> 0:25:48.920 structure in their eyes. One is so that they see 0:25:49.000 --> 0:25:52.359 more light. They can perceive more light because they're flying 0:25:52.400 --> 0:25:55.919 around often at night, and the other is that they 0:25:55.920 --> 0:25:59.959 reflect less light so that potential predators can't see them 0:26:00.000 --> 0:26:02.960 and gobble them up. So it's a survival mechanism on 0:26:03.040 --> 0:26:06.359 two fronts. How we can take advantage of it is 0:26:06.640 --> 0:26:10.440 by making a kind of a model of those same 0:26:10.480 --> 0:26:14.520 micro structures designs in such a way so that when 0:26:14.600 --> 0:26:17.000 light hits it, more of the light gets reflected down 0:26:17.040 --> 0:26:19.720 to the surface of the solar panel, the the actual 0:26:19.880 --> 0:26:24.600 collection surface, and fewer photons bounce off, and we thus 0:26:24.680 --> 0:26:30.719 increase efficiency. Now there's a fellow named Noboru Yamada who 0:26:30.760 --> 0:26:34.160 came up with this idea along with a team of scientists. 0:26:34.359 --> 0:26:38.760 Uh he is a scientist at Nagoako University of Technology 0:26:38.760 --> 0:26:41.480 in Japan. And I'm sure I butchered all of that. 0:26:42.480 --> 0:26:46.800 But but other than that, yes, yes, well, okay, fair enough. 0:26:47.160 --> 0:26:49.560 Uh So he what he did was he took some 0:26:49.640 --> 0:26:53.000 molds made out of a notic porous alumina to create 0:26:53.000 --> 0:26:56.159 the micro structures that were similar to those of you 0:26:56.240 --> 0:26:59.520 would find in a moth's eyes and uh, put that 0:26:59.600 --> 0:27:03.000 into a crylic resin. So if you're wondering what that 0:27:03.080 --> 0:27:06.480 actually means, a notic is another, you know, anode. We're 0:27:06.520 --> 0:27:10.360 talking about the positively charged electrode in a in a system. 0:27:10.359 --> 0:27:12.199 Poorous of course, just means it's got little bit of 0:27:12.200 --> 0:27:16.080 holes and holes or spaces within it. And alumina is 0:27:16.119 --> 0:27:19.159 actually a type of aluminum oxide, which is an electrical 0:27:19.200 --> 0:27:22.159 insulator but also has a high thermal conductivity, so it 0:27:22.160 --> 0:27:27.520 conducts heat really well, but it insulates electricity. Um They 0:27:27.560 --> 0:27:30.520 found that this film could boost the efficiency of solar 0:27:30.560 --> 0:27:34.600 panels by around five percent, so which again sounds really 0:27:34.600 --> 0:27:37.960 small until you consider that that a five percent efficiency 0:27:38.080 --> 0:27:41.840 rate is the that's the average. Let's say, let's say 0:27:41.840 --> 0:27:44.280 that we have it on close to the high end, 0:27:44.320 --> 0:27:47.679 so somewhere around, which is pretty high. I mean, especially 0:27:47.680 --> 0:27:50.400 if you're talking about commercial solar panels, that's really high. 0:27:50.800 --> 0:27:52.560 And then if you were to apply this film and 0:27:52.600 --> 0:27:55.439 get that five percent increase, knowing that it's up to 0:27:55.520 --> 0:27:57.239 five percent, you're not always going to get a five 0:27:57.240 --> 0:28:00.600 percent improvement either, But that's a tent of sittiency at 0:28:00.600 --> 0:28:03.280 that point, and when you multiply that across an entire 0:28:03.400 --> 0:28:06.199 array of solar panels, Like I said, that equals a 0:28:06.240 --> 0:28:09.639 lot more electricity. So while it might be tiny in 0:28:09.720 --> 0:28:12.679 comparison to one solar cell, when you're talking about an 0:28:12.760 --> 0:28:16.760 array of solar panels, it makes a huge difference. So, uh, 0:28:16.800 --> 0:28:20.399 that's one way that we've seen solar panels get some improvements. Now, 0:28:20.440 --> 0:28:22.119 this is just a film you would put over a 0:28:22.119 --> 0:28:24.919 solar panel. It doesn't replace the panel itself. We have 0:28:25.080 --> 0:28:30.879 some other technologies that would actually either improve solar panel 0:28:31.040 --> 0:28:35.520 silicon or replace it. So for example, University of New 0:28:35.520 --> 0:28:40.080 South Wales, So New South Wales, it's in Australia. Uh 0:28:40.080 --> 0:28:43.440 and uh the what now she's shaking her head, have 0:28:43.520 --> 0:28:46.040 you versus saying Australia that was a that was a 0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:50.320 terrible accent. My Australian accent is amazing. It's almost as 0:28:50.320 --> 0:28:53.080 good as my New Zealand accent, which is the same accent. 0:28:53.360 --> 0:28:55.320 I can't wait for all of our friends down under 0:28:55.320 --> 0:28:57.840 to yell at me, but I won't understand them, so 0:28:57.880 --> 0:29:01.040 it's okay. So the University of New South Whales, some engineers, 0:29:01.080 --> 0:29:05.120 some scientists decided to take a look at using hydrogen 0:29:05.160 --> 0:29:11.120 atoms to try and correct deficiencies in silicon crystals. Now, 0:29:11.600 --> 0:29:14.880 the deficiencies in silicon would mean that normally it would 0:29:14.880 --> 0:29:18.520 decrease the efficiency of a solar panel, so not you know, 0:29:18.720 --> 0:29:20.840 when you're doping silicon, you want it in a very 0:29:20.880 --> 0:29:24.520 specific way so that you can maximize its efficiency. But occasionally, 0:29:25.040 --> 0:29:29.240 through manufacturing processes or whatever mistakes happen, you'll get a 0:29:29.240 --> 0:29:32.280 deficiency and it will decrease that of the efficiency of 0:29:32.320 --> 0:29:35.280 that particular solar panel, and as a result, you'll get 0:29:35.360 --> 0:29:38.360 less energy out of it than you had anticipated. They 0:29:38.400 --> 0:29:41.560 found that by using hydrogen atoms and inserting them into 0:29:41.640 --> 0:29:46.480 silicon crystals, the hydrogen atoms would bond with the deficiencies 0:29:46.840 --> 0:29:51.280 inside the silicon and negate them and essentially help move 0:29:51.400 --> 0:29:55.360 the photons toward the silk the silicon. That would actually 0:29:55.400 --> 0:30:01.080 help transfer that into electric electric energy so or electricity 0:30:01.080 --> 0:30:04.160 as we sometimes call it. So it was it was 0:30:04.200 --> 0:30:07.479 one of those improvements that doesn't necessarily mean we're going 0:30:07.520 --> 0:30:12.440 to have mega, super powerful new silicon based solar panel again, 0:30:12.440 --> 0:30:15.000 It's going to be a small improvement, right. Instead, what 0:30:15.040 --> 0:30:18.200 it means is that we could actually use cheaper silicon, 0:30:18.520 --> 0:30:21.440 so By using cheaper silicon, we bring down the price 0:30:21.680 --> 0:30:24.440 of the solar panels in general, So yeah, you can. 0:30:24.720 --> 0:30:27.720 The problem with using cheaper silicon normally is that you 0:30:27.800 --> 0:30:30.520 get more defects and less efficiency, But if you have 0:30:30.560 --> 0:30:33.160 the hydrogen to correct those defects, then you can ignore 0:30:33.240 --> 0:30:35.960 that effectively and it would be cheaper than using the 0:30:36.040 --> 0:30:39.800 higher quality silicon exactly, So lower prices that means higher 0:30:39.800 --> 0:30:43.680 adoption rates and uh better used for solar power all around. 0:30:44.080 --> 0:30:48.280 Some researchers have also been using layering of different materials 0:30:48.320 --> 0:30:51.080 with different band gaps that this is that multi junction 0:30:51.480 --> 0:30:54.080 solar cell thing that I was talking about earlier to 0:30:54.640 --> 0:30:57.640 improve the efficiency of solar cells overall. And the way 0:30:57.680 --> 0:31:00.440 that these work is the top layers will absorb high 0:31:00.560 --> 0:31:03.400 energy photons and let low energy photons slip through to 0:31:03.400 --> 0:31:09.040 be absorbed by lower layers, which interesting and so originally 0:31:09.080 --> 0:31:11.680 this came out of like NASA and Space Tech, but 0:31:12.000 --> 0:31:16.720 it's pretty promising simulations is achieved fifty one eight percent 0:31:16.800 --> 0:31:19.760 efficiency that would be incredible, which even in a laboratory 0:31:19.960 --> 0:31:23.280 is amazing. So the interesting thing here is that and 0:31:23.600 --> 0:31:26.440 we talked about this in our older podcast about how 0:31:27.080 --> 0:31:30.680 if you go with the the lower energy band gaps, 0:31:31.360 --> 0:31:34.080 you can cast that net. But the problem with going 0:31:34.120 --> 0:31:36.520 with low energy band gaps is that you get a 0:31:36.640 --> 0:31:39.760 very low voltage out of it. So the work you 0:31:39.760 --> 0:31:43.920 can do with the electricity you generate is not necessarily 0:31:44.080 --> 0:31:45.880 better than what you would if you were just going 0:31:45.920 --> 0:31:49.600 for high energy. But by doing this multi tier approach, 0:31:49.720 --> 0:31:52.080 you can capture all of it, which is a great idea, 0:31:52.360 --> 0:31:53.920 or a lot more of a lot more of it 0:31:55.760 --> 0:31:59.040 efficiency in the simulation. But still right, they're they're working 0:31:59.040 --> 0:32:02.440 on matching current among the different sub cells because if 0:32:02.720 --> 0:32:05.640 one sub cell is is lacking, then it's going to 0:32:05.680 --> 0:32:08.920 throw off the entire device within this multijunction cell. So 0:32:08.920 --> 0:32:11.640 it's kind of one of those weakest link type Yeah. Yeah, 0:32:11.680 --> 0:32:13.960 so so people are people are working on it. Um. 0:32:14.440 --> 0:32:17.640 The other thing that I'm really excited about is completely 0:32:17.680 --> 0:32:21.680 out there. This is quantum photovoltaics also called quantum dots 0:32:21.880 --> 0:32:25.800 our cells quantum dots. This takes me back, yeah, yeah, 0:32:25.880 --> 0:32:28.760 and so this is this is using matrix of finally 0:32:28.880 --> 0:32:33.720 tuned nanocrystals instead of the typical silicon crystals that you're 0:32:33.840 --> 0:32:37.720 that you're used to. And what's cool about these nano 0:32:37.720 --> 0:32:41.120 crystals is that they can be tuned to specific segments 0:32:41.160 --> 0:32:43.880 of the light spectrum um of of of these band 0:32:43.880 --> 0:32:46.320 gaps that we've been talking about, so that cells can 0:32:46.400 --> 0:32:50.560 capture more of the available light based on how different 0:32:50.600 --> 0:32:54.440 bits of it are tuned. And the really exciting part 0:32:54.480 --> 0:32:57.240 of this is that photons can hypothetically excite as many 0:32:57.280 --> 0:33:02.440 as seven electrons per per photon. So so yeah, that's 0:33:02.480 --> 0:33:05.680 that's where you're getting that crazy boost in efficiency right 0:33:05.800 --> 0:33:10.480 right in Researchers at the University of Buffalo found that 0:33:10.560 --> 0:33:15.600 they could reach a efficiency and also because you've got 0:33:15.800 --> 0:33:21.600 fun quantum physics mucking up this business um, that's how 0:33:21.640 --> 0:33:27.040 I call it. Yeah. Recently, an international team discovered that 0:33:27.040 --> 0:33:30.600 that these quantum dots can self assemble into nano wires 0:33:30.640 --> 0:33:35.400 that will more efficiently carry that current so into their 0:33:35.400 --> 0:33:37.680 into their own pathways, like like Jonathan was talking about 0:33:37.720 --> 0:33:40.400 earlier with when you create a pathway, you're allowing the 0:33:40.440 --> 0:33:44.280 electron flow to happen, right right, Because if you didn't 0:33:44.320 --> 0:33:47.320 have that barrier there to block the flow, then the 0:33:47.360 --> 0:33:50.760 electrons would just flow automatically from the more negative side 0:33:50.760 --> 0:33:52.800 towards the more positive side. You have to create a 0:33:52.800 --> 0:33:54.480 barrier and then you have to create a path, and 0:33:54.480 --> 0:33:57.880 and all of this takes work on your part, but hypothetically, 0:33:57.920 --> 0:34:00.040 this quantum stuff can can do it for you know. 0:34:00.120 --> 0:34:03.720 That's that's pretty cool. I've got one other alternative to 0:34:03.920 --> 0:34:07.040 silicon based panels, and it may end up not being 0:34:07.040 --> 0:34:12.200 an alternative but rather an augmentation. But that's for pov skites. 0:34:13.480 --> 0:34:15.000 I have no idea if that's the right way to 0:34:15.040 --> 0:34:17.480 say it, but this is a material that apparently the 0:34:17.480 --> 0:34:21.560 Earth is just lousy with parov skites. This is incredibly plentiful, 0:34:21.600 --> 0:34:25.720 incredibly cheap material that may in fact be a valid 0:34:25.760 --> 0:34:29.439 alternative to silicon. You might have heard about this talked about. 0:34:29.440 --> 0:34:33.160 I believe these are also called thin film cells. Correct, yes, yes, 0:34:33.280 --> 0:34:36.680 So this is a it's a material that's very good 0:34:36.719 --> 0:34:40.719 at absorbing light, and it's a semiconductor like silicon. It 0:34:40.800 --> 0:34:43.520 could transport electric charge when a photon hits it, just 0:34:43.600 --> 0:34:49.480 like silicon um and unlike silicon, which those panels can 0:34:49.560 --> 0:34:53.080 be as thin as a round a hundred eighty micrometers thick. 0:34:53.400 --> 0:34:57.560 Hundred micrometer is one millionth of a meter um. That 0:34:57.680 --> 0:35:00.680 sounds pretty thin, but a but one made of this 0:35:00.760 --> 0:35:04.359 other material can be less than one micrometer thick, so 0:35:04.920 --> 0:35:09.319 the manufacturing process could be much simpler. It ends up 0:35:09.320 --> 0:35:12.280 being you need less of this material than you would 0:35:12.360 --> 0:35:15.600 of silicon material. Stuff is already cheaper. The sheets that 0:35:15.640 --> 0:35:19.360 you wind up with are more applicable to two different objects. 0:35:19.440 --> 0:35:22.479 They can be thin and bendy and and right, which 0:35:22.480 --> 0:35:25.240 means that you're not stuck with that one form factor 0:35:25.280 --> 0:35:27.279 that you would be with a solar panel, where you 0:35:27.280 --> 0:35:32.280 have a more rigid, thicker material, uh, which you depending 0:35:32.360 --> 0:35:36.279 upon what you're trying to coat, could be a big deal. 0:35:36.719 --> 0:35:40.759 It's sort of this pigmented stuff. And uh, it's, like 0:35:40.800 --> 0:35:43.600 I said, very cheap and could eventually lead to solar 0:35:43.600 --> 0:35:46.640 panels that cost ten to twenty cents per what. And 0:35:46.640 --> 0:35:50.239 I remember we're talking now around between fifty cents and 0:35:50.239 --> 0:35:52.520 a dollar per what, depending upon how you define it. 0:35:53.440 --> 0:35:56.160 So this would be significantly less expensive and in fact 0:35:56.920 --> 0:36:01.600 more than comparable to fossil fuel on a per what basis. 0:36:02.040 --> 0:36:05.959 Knowing that this is not really apples to apples, so 0:36:06.840 --> 0:36:10.960 but anyway, Uh, they right now are only an efficiency 0:36:11.040 --> 0:36:15.520 of around fifteen percent. Uh. Scientists think that they might 0:36:15.520 --> 0:36:18.120 be able to get get it to about twenty or 0:36:18.120 --> 0:36:20.640 twenty five percent efficiency, so much lower than some of 0:36:20.640 --> 0:36:23.040 these other ones we're talking about. But if the cost 0:36:23.760 --> 0:36:26.759 is much lower, then it may make sense. If it's 0:36:26.840 --> 0:36:30.000 cheaper to to turn these out than silicon ones, even 0:36:30.000 --> 0:36:32.560 if the silicon ones are better, it may make more 0:36:32.640 --> 0:36:35.600 financial sense to go with this material it's cheaper in 0:36:35.640 --> 0:36:38.919 the long run. Kind of kind of idea. Now, right now, 0:36:38.960 --> 0:36:41.720 there's an effort to commercialize the product through a company 0:36:41.760 --> 0:36:45.480 called Oxford Photovoltaics, which is so far raised more than 0:36:45.520 --> 0:36:50.360 four million dollars in capital. And uh, there's also a chance, 0:36:50.760 --> 0:36:53.919 because we're still seeing silicon based cellar panels, we're seeing 0:36:54.000 --> 0:36:57.759 those prices go down over time, there's a chance that 0:36:57.840 --> 0:37:01.440 this won't make a big impact. So because if silicon 0:37:01.560 --> 0:37:04.200 ends up being as cheap or only a little more 0:37:04.239 --> 0:37:07.880 expensive than this alternative solar panel, people are going to say, well, 0:37:07.880 --> 0:37:12.560 why would I sacrifice performance for just a tiny savings. 0:37:13.120 --> 0:37:16.040 Plus you're talking about not just people, but entire companies 0:37:16.080 --> 0:37:19.040 that would have to create their own manufacturing processes to 0:37:19.080 --> 0:37:22.480 build these these panels. It would require a big change 0:37:22.480 --> 0:37:25.600 in infrastructure, and it may not be worth that investment 0:37:25.719 --> 0:37:29.440 to change the infrastructure. Although for certain purposes. Again, when 0:37:29.480 --> 0:37:32.680 you're talking about the rigidity of the final product, you 0:37:32.760 --> 0:37:36.840 might wind up, yeah, finding finding benefit and using something 0:37:36.880 --> 0:37:39.480 that's a little bit less some Yeah, if you have 0:37:39.600 --> 0:37:42.640 around building, for example, and you want to have part 0:37:42.719 --> 0:37:45.000 of that building like a column where there's not any 0:37:45.040 --> 0:37:48.879 windows facing out to be a solar gathering column. Uh, 0:37:49.000 --> 0:37:51.800 and you don't want to place a million tiny panels 0:37:51.840 --> 0:37:54.279 on it, right, this might be a way of doing that. 0:37:54.719 --> 0:37:58.120 It's also been discussed as a way to augment silicon 0:37:58.920 --> 0:38:01.440 based solar pans, where you would use the pigment to 0:38:01.480 --> 0:38:04.799 help reduce the reflectivity of the panels, just like we 0:38:04.800 --> 0:38:07.000 were talking about with the moth eyes. It would mean 0:38:07.040 --> 0:38:10.560 that more photons would be reflected down into the solar panel, 0:38:10.600 --> 0:38:13.680 as opposed to bouncing off and going willy nilly to 0:38:13.840 --> 0:38:18.040 not do anyone any good, those lazy bums. So those 0:38:18.040 --> 0:38:20.239 are those are some other alternatives. Do you have any 0:38:20.280 --> 0:38:21.799 others you want to talk about? Before we talk about 0:38:21.800 --> 0:38:24.320 some of the crazy fun stuff. That's all I've got. 0:38:24.560 --> 0:38:26.640 But before we do that, let's take a quick break 0:38:26.719 --> 0:38:30.359 to thank our sponsor. You've probably tried Hulu dot com. 0:38:30.440 --> 0:38:34.640 Now with Hulu Plus, you can watch your favorite shows anytime, anywhere. 0:38:35.000 --> 0:38:37.520 Hulu Plus lets you watch thousands of hit TV shows 0:38:37.520 --> 0:38:40.400 in the selection of acclaimed movies on your television or 0:38:40.480 --> 0:38:42.840 on the go with your smartphone or tablet, and it 0:38:42.880 --> 0:38:45.719 all streams an HD for the best viewing experience. With 0:38:45.800 --> 0:38:48.320 Hulu Plus, you can watch your favorite current TV shows 0:38:48.440 --> 0:38:51.839 like Community, South Park, and Parks and Recreation. You can 0:38:51.840 --> 0:38:54.920 also check out exclusive content, including Hulu originals like The 0:38:54.960 --> 0:38:57.480 Awesome starring s N. L. Seth Myers and moon Boy 0:38:57.520 --> 0:39:00.680 starring Christ Odald from Bride'smates. 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So you'll hear lots of I T 0:39:35.360 --> 0:39:39.239 crowd references in our episodes if you listen hard enough. 0:39:39.280 --> 0:39:41.120 But in order to get the references, you need to 0:39:41.160 --> 0:39:43.600 watch the show first, So go check it out. All right, 0:39:43.640 --> 0:39:45.880 this isn't that crazy fun. But I did run across 0:39:46.280 --> 0:39:48.800 an article about how solar panels are coming to Ikea 0:39:49.640 --> 0:39:52.759 that if you're in the UK, that that was where 0:39:52.760 --> 0:39:56.600 I got the UK information right, Lauren just shook her 0:39:56.600 --> 0:39:59.239 fist for those who are those who were curious, those 0:39:59.280 --> 0:40:01.920 who are listening in on say the radio. I shook 0:40:02.000 --> 0:40:04.320 my fist in the other solar panel episode and I 0:40:04.360 --> 0:40:08.239 announced it too, because so there's some things that just 0:40:08.320 --> 0:40:14.560 carry over. It doesn't matter. So Ikea is looking at 0:40:15.120 --> 0:40:19.360 carrying solar panels to for customers to purchase solar solar 0:40:19.360 --> 0:40:23.040 panel kits, So flat pack Ikea style solar panel can 0:40:23.239 --> 0:40:25.640 go in you buy a flat pack of ike I'm 0:40:25.680 --> 0:40:28.520 sure they'll have some sort of Swedish name that will 0:40:28.560 --> 0:40:34.120 be hilarious and um, you'll you know, in the UK, 0:40:34.320 --> 0:40:36.600 you can purchase these and then go and have them 0:40:36.680 --> 0:40:41.799 installed at your home. Uh. It sounds like if it's 0:40:41.840 --> 0:40:44.279 a successful program that it will roll out to other 0:40:44.320 --> 0:40:47.480 parts of the world, the United States included, and it's 0:40:47.680 --> 0:40:49.959 you know, they're no stranger to solar power. In fact, 0:40:50.000 --> 0:40:53.880 they use solar panels and several of their locations forty 0:40:53.960 --> 0:40:58.080 of their US locations have solar panels energy. Yeah, they 0:40:58.160 --> 0:41:02.160 essentially are powering their their buildings with solar energy as 0:41:02.200 --> 0:41:05.680 much as they possibly can. So, uh, you know, now 0:41:05.680 --> 0:41:08.040 they're looking at instead of just using it on a 0:41:08.040 --> 0:41:11.080 corporate level, to actually offer it as a product. So 0:41:11.120 --> 0:41:14.799 it'll be interesting to see if this ends up being 0:41:14.960 --> 0:41:17.439 successful because then we'll see it rolled out to other 0:41:18.160 --> 0:41:21.360 whether whether it's really is you know, in grand Ikea style, 0:41:21.560 --> 0:41:24.960 cheaper and easier to install. Yeah, because you can as 0:41:24.960 --> 0:41:27.400 a customer right now. I mean, if if you're a consumer, 0:41:27.440 --> 0:41:29.160 you can go out and buy solar panels and have 0:41:29.160 --> 0:41:31.640 them installed in your home. There are hardware stores like 0:41:31.719 --> 0:41:34.640 Lows that that sell solar panels. It's not like i 0:41:34.800 --> 0:41:37.080 Kea is the first business to come out and say 0:41:37.320 --> 0:41:40.360 we're finally making solar panels available to cut customers, but 0:41:40.400 --> 0:41:42.280 it's probably the first place that you can get Swedish 0:41:42.280 --> 0:41:46.279 meatballs and also solar panels. Yeah, at least from a 0:41:46.360 --> 0:41:49.080 reliable source. There is a guy outside of my local 0:41:49.120 --> 0:41:52.160 lows who sells what he calls the Swedish meatballs, but 0:41:52.160 --> 0:41:55.319 I just don't trust them. Uh So, that was one 0:41:55.400 --> 0:41:56.840 of the wacky things I want to talk about. But 0:41:56.840 --> 0:41:59.320 the other one is my favorite, which is the robo raven. 0:42:00.080 --> 0:42:04.240 Robo raven. Yes, so a pair of University of Maryland 0:42:04.239 --> 0:42:09.200 professors sk Gupta and Hugh Bruck came up with along 0:42:09.200 --> 0:42:12.480 with their students, the robo raven, which is a robotic bird. 0:42:12.640 --> 0:42:15.879 It's a little robot that can fly, and flying takes 0:42:15.920 --> 0:42:17.440 up a lot of energy. It takes up a lot 0:42:17.440 --> 0:42:19.000 of energy for birds, and it takes up a lot 0:42:19.000 --> 0:42:22.040 of energy for robots, as it turns out, And so 0:42:22.080 --> 0:42:24.920 they were trying to think of ways to extend a 0:42:25.120 --> 0:42:29.680 robot's flying life so that it would be useful. Otherwise, 0:42:29.840 --> 0:42:33.719 you know, your typical robotic flying device is going to 0:42:33.760 --> 0:42:36.680 have a fairly small range and half batteries are going 0:42:36.719 --> 0:42:39.239 to run down fuel source of money. So yeah, it's 0:42:39.760 --> 0:42:42.200 it's roaming range is going to be about half of 0:42:42.239 --> 0:42:45.520 what you would want just based on the battery life alone. 0:42:45.600 --> 0:42:47.759 Because if you have it go all the way out 0:42:47.800 --> 0:42:49.279 to its battery life, then you have to go to 0:42:49.280 --> 0:42:51.160 retrieve it. You wanted to be able to come back, right, 0:42:51.560 --> 0:42:54.240 So they were thinking, well, how could we build something 0:42:54.280 --> 0:42:57.480 that could recharge its batteries while it's out in the 0:42:57.520 --> 0:43:02.560 field sometimes literally dom and then make its way back home. 0:43:03.040 --> 0:43:06.359 And so they decided to use a special material where 0:43:06.400 --> 0:43:09.960 they were essentially weaving in solar panels along the wings 0:43:10.560 --> 0:43:13.080 of this robo raven. So the idea is that this 0:43:13.160 --> 0:43:17.520 little uh, this little device, this can the micro air 0:43:17.640 --> 0:43:20.960 vehicle can fly out. It would land when its power 0:43:21.000 --> 0:43:23.200 would get low, and it would recharge its battery. And 0:43:23.239 --> 0:43:26.960 now they point out that the solar panels are nowhere 0:43:27.040 --> 0:43:31.840 near efficient enough to power the bird's flight. Yeah, it 0:43:31.880 --> 0:43:35.120 would have to land and recharge batteries and then fly 0:43:35.480 --> 0:43:39.319 because I think it would generate something like gather like 0:43:39.360 --> 0:43:43.480 three point six watts and it needs thirty wats to fly, 0:43:43.719 --> 0:43:46.359 and like it just it cannot, you know, it would 0:43:46.400 --> 0:43:47.920 just it would just crash if you were to try 0:43:47.960 --> 0:43:51.359 and fly it beyond its battery life. So I thought 0:43:51.360 --> 0:43:54.960 that was yes. Now, the robo raven that plays into 0:43:55.040 --> 0:43:58.560 the podcast, we did not that long ago about drones. Uh, 0:43:58.600 --> 0:44:00.919 in this case, the robo ravens just it's a robotic bird. 0:44:00.960 --> 0:44:04.200 It's not designed to be anything specific apart from a 0:44:04.280 --> 0:44:06.799 robotic bird. But you could easily see this kind of 0:44:06.840 --> 0:44:11.840 technology being used in things like environmental uh monitors, you know, 0:44:11.920 --> 0:44:15.640 looking for things like changes in climate, changes in environment, 0:44:16.040 --> 0:44:19.400 exploration of areas that might be difficult to get to 0:44:19.520 --> 0:44:24.560 on foot or otherwise, or you know, surveillance. You know, 0:44:24.600 --> 0:44:27.239 there's that fun version to whether birds are spying on 0:44:27.320 --> 0:44:30.560 you and the robots. I don't want that. I don't 0:44:30.560 --> 0:44:32.960 want bird shaped robots spying on me. I want that 0:44:33.040 --> 0:44:35.120 even less than I want other robots spying on me. 0:44:35.160 --> 0:44:37.640 In fact, I'm not sure why I have this strong emotion, 0:44:37.719 --> 0:44:39.680 but that sounds like i've I mean, I don't know, 0:44:39.719 --> 0:44:41.960 maybe it's watched too much Alfred Hitchcock or something. I 0:44:42.000 --> 0:44:45.080 recommend you don't turn around then, I'm just your back 0:44:45.120 --> 0:44:46.799 is to the window. Yeah, we have an exciting new 0:44:46.840 --> 0:44:51.120 window in the podcast, yes, which I can look out 0:44:51.160 --> 0:44:53.000 of and Lauren cannot because of the way we sit. 0:44:53.200 --> 0:44:55.680 I refuse to have my back to the window, all right, 0:44:55.800 --> 0:44:58.799 So anyway, that's that's kind of our our update on 0:44:58.880 --> 0:45:01.799 solar panel technolog g. You know, it's going to constantly 0:45:01.920 --> 0:45:05.719 be this quest to eke out as much efficiency as 0:45:05.760 --> 0:45:09.440 possible to make solar panels a true competitor when it 0:45:09.480 --> 0:45:12.680 comes to generate electricity. Uh. And you also have to 0:45:12.719 --> 0:45:17.400 offset the downsides to solar panels. So, for example, if 0:45:17.440 --> 0:45:19.279 you were to try and go off the grid and 0:45:19.320 --> 0:45:21.719 just use solar panels for your home, you would also 0:45:21.800 --> 0:45:25.040 need some sort of energy storage device for those times 0:45:25.080 --> 0:45:27.080 when the sun is not out and you would be 0:45:27.120 --> 0:45:29.560 able to tap into that. So batteries essentially is what 0:45:29.600 --> 0:45:32.000 I'm talking about. So you could have your own on 0:45:32.160 --> 0:45:35.160 site generator that runs on something else, but you're talking 0:45:35.160 --> 0:45:37.239 about some other fuel. Maybe pair it with a with 0:45:37.280 --> 0:45:39.120 a wind generator or something like that, or not a 0:45:39.239 --> 0:45:42.880 wind generator, but a wind harvesting wind driven Yeah, that 0:45:42.880 --> 0:45:44.960 would if you if you live in a very sunny, 0:45:44.960 --> 0:45:47.440 windy place, that would work out well for you. If 0:45:47.440 --> 0:45:50.440 you don't, then uh, you know, that would probably probably 0:45:50.440 --> 0:45:55.120 be marginally improvement over just solar panels alone. I hope 0:45:55.120 --> 0:45:58.640 you guys enjoyed that classic episode of tech Stuff. If 0:45:58.680 --> 0:46:01.359 you have any suggestions for future topics we should cover 0:46:01.440 --> 0:46:03.840 on the show, let me know. Send me a message 0:46:03.840 --> 0:46:06.360 on Twitter. The handle is text stuff HS w and 0:46:06.360 --> 0:46:14.080 I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff is 0:46:14.080 --> 0:46:17.279 an I heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I 0:46:17.360 --> 0:46:20.960 heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:46:21.080 --> 0:46:23.080 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.