I read on CNN's website last year some company was creating a very cheap type of solar panel, that needs minimal maintenance and and has minimal glare from the sun. And the creator of the project said he one day wanted to cover every rooftop in the US with these solar panels. Seems like a good idea to me but I havent heared anything of it for a long time and I don't know what they are called... any help?
Solar panels are one of the hottest areas in materials research today - from basic science to applied production techniques. There have been major strides in thin-film manufacturing technique as well as silicon technology. There's not a lot of hype about it because solar panel manufacturers don''t really need to advertise yet - they are selling at factory capacity with demand for more. Standard silicon solar panels now sell for around $3 a watt, and grid parity is expected within 5 years. Reference is to the MIT Technology Newsletter, which runs several articles a month on new solar tech.
The cheapest will be solar paint where you lay down some wires and paint the panel on. Solar roof tiles are also coming along but each tile has to be wired in. Currently the target is $ a watt. The efficiencies of these panels are very low but if the cost is low enough then the efficiencies won't matter. Keep in mind that even fossil fuel is solar power, just solar power captured by photosynthesis millions of years ago, and photosynthesis has a maximum theoretical efficiency of 6.6% with most plants achieving less than % efficiency so even an inefficient solar paint already outstrips our current energy sources in terms of efficiencies. The real problem is the business model. With solar energy you can sell the panels upfront but then what do you do for an income whereas with fossil fuels, you sell every kwh and bill each month.
The most cost-effective solution, which the vast majority of new installs use today, is solar alongside the regular power company. That way, you need no batteries, and if the solar array isn't producing enough at any given time, you draw from the electric company. When the array is producing more than you need, instead of just throwing that power away, the power company buys it (usually). In short, yes, you will still have an electric bill, but a smaller one. On our house, the electric bill was a little less than $5 a month, with an end-of-year settlement of an additional $2. How much does it cost? Unfortunately, that's like asking how much personal transportation costs. Some people need a van to transport the kids to soccer, some may get by with a motorcycle, others may need only a bicycle. The best thing is to contact a professional installer to get a quote based on your location and electrical usage. Solar electric does not make financial sense in all areas. Our array cost $2,000 but don't use that as a guide. Yours might be 0 times that, or half that, depending on your area and needs.
