Hey, glad you like it! There are a couple of hypothetical solar energy possibilities, but neither's really worth the time. The first is concentrated photovolt

Hey, glad you like it! There are a couple of hypothetical solar energy possibilities, but neither's really worth the time. The first is concentrated photovoltaic (CPV), based on the idea that lens is cheaper than silicon, so why not concentrate a larger area onto a smaller chip? The issue here is thermal- if a cell has 15% efficiency, then it necessarily rejects 85% of the energy as heat so significant cooling is required. The second is solar thermal or steam generation. Heat water until a phase change occurs, then use the expansion to drive a turbine. It's not particularly safe or easy to do on a hobbyist basis. As ars peripherally mentioned, the Fresnel essentially produces an energy rate. The thermo take-home is that there IS no maximum temperature, except perhaps the surface of the Sun. That makes the (incorrect) assumption that you have a perfect absorber with no convective or radiative losses. My current kiln design should nearly eliminate convective losses, and will greatly reduce radiative by refocusing the lost energy. Come check it out at Maker Faire!