WEBVTT - How Nanosolar Works

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<v Speaker 1>Get smarter in sixty seconds with brain stuff from how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com. Hi, marcial Brain. If you've been

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<v Speaker 1>watching solar energy recently, you know that there's a new player.

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<v Speaker 1>The company is called Nanosolar, and they're shaking things up

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<v Speaker 1>with low prices for solar cells. Let's look at how

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<v Speaker 1>they work. Normal solar cells have been coming down in

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<v Speaker 1>price for decades, but they're still expensive because they depend

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<v Speaker 1>on silicon wafers. A silicon wafer comes from a big

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<v Speaker 1>silicon crystal that's sliced in the thin disks. The cost

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<v Speaker 1>of growing, slicing, and then layering a solar cell onto

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<v Speaker 1>the crystal jacks up the price. Nanosolar is using a

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<v Speaker 1>completely different technique. They start with a roll of aluminum

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<v Speaker 1>foil and print a solar cell onto it layer by layer.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the key layers takes advantage of nanoparticles to

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<v Speaker 1>collect the sun's rays. This makes the panels more efficient.

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<v Speaker 1>A nanosolar panel can generate a lot more current than normal,

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<v Speaker 1>and that lower the cost of the whole system by

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<v Speaker 1>reducing the amount of framing needed to hold the panels altogether.

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<v Speaker 1>Nanosolar has created panels that cost less than the dollar

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<v Speaker 1>per what That means that solar energy now costs less

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<v Speaker 1>than electricity produced from coal, and as time goes on,

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<v Speaker 1>it will get even cheaper. With luck, nano solar technology

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<v Speaker 1>will allow us to start building cheap solar farms and

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<v Speaker 1>eliminate many of our coal power plants. Do you have

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<v Speaker 1>any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please

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<v Speaker 1>send me an email at podcast at how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. For more on this and thousands of other topics,

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<v Speaker 1>go to how stuff works dot com