4 ms·

Yeah, I would like to see real percentages of all the sunlight hitting a given cell that is converted to electricity.

• tlb 16y ago
  And of course, sunlight has a wide range of wavelengths and it's almost impossible to convert >1000 nM light to electricity, so you can't get close to 100%. The problem with current cells isn't efficiency but cost. 5% efficient cells that were cheap (including mounting & protection) would be a breakthrough.
  • anamax 16y ago
    > The problem with current cells isn't efficiency but cost. 5% efficient cells that were cheap (including mounting & protection) would be a breakthrough. It depends. My house has a finite amount of roof space. If a solar farm has to be too big, it can only be very remote and then there's a distribution problem. (Consider road sign lights. You'd rather not run wires to them, so "on sign" solar is a natural, but size matters.)
    • tlb 16y ago
      You're right about remote applications, of course. I'm thinking about replacing coal with solar on a large scale. Roofs are a silly place to put solar cells. Like everyone growing wheat on their roofs. Farms are the right model for harnessing lots of sunlight to grow food or make electricity.