subject: Will New Solar Energy Technology Push Solar Energy Forward? [print this page] Photo-voltaic panels are the most popular form of solar power energy in use today. However, a research team of students at MIT has developed solar power technology that may soon make these cells obsolete. The temperature of the heat that it produces is so intense that it can burn through wood or cut through steel like butter.
In neighborhoods throughout the U.S., if you were to take inventory of houses that are powered by solar energy, you would most likely see photo-voltaic panels on the building roofs. For more than 40 years, this has been the basic way in which most people view solar energy. The photo-voltaic panels collect energy from the sun, convert it into electrical energy, and store it in battery cells somewhere within the home.
But we may be coming to the end of the day when the photo-voltaic cell is the dominant form of solar energy. Especially if the researchers at MIT have anything to say about it.
The apparatus that is causing so much commotion is a device called a parabolic collector. What is a solar collector? It is simply a means of concentrating the rays of the sun onto a particular area and collecting the energy generated. A parabolic solar collector is an array of mirrors that take the rays from the sun and focus them on a singular point.
This specific point, In the plan that the MIT researchers have been working on, is a pipe that holds a special liquid. The function of this liquid is to accumulate and hold the energy generated by the parabolic collector. The stored energy is later extracted in the form of electricity via a turbine generator.
Parabolic collectors are not new. In fact, for a while, they were somewhat popular in certain areas of the country. What usually happens is that the water or liquid in the heated pipes turn to steam because of the applied heat. The steam, in turn, drives the turbines which create the electricity.
The thing that is new with the MIT research experiment is the actual design of the parabolic collector. And, the key ingredient in this new design is a 12 foot dish or mirror with the astounding capability of focusing the energy from the sun at such an intense level that it becomes hundreds of times more powerful than normal everyday sunshine.
As a matter of fact, the beam is so hot that if you were to place a piece of paper in the path of the concentrated beam, it would instantly burst into flame. So intense, that water placed in its path is instantly converted into steam. In other words, energy from the sun can be harvested at a rate 30, 40, or more times the rate that it can currently be collected via photo-voltaic methodology.
The beneficial aspect of this for homeowners is almost immediate. This is because the payback time for someone thinking of investing in solar energy will decrease by a factor of two, three, and maybe even four times. Normally, when a homeowner invests in solar energy technology, the payback time is somewhere between seven to ten years. With this new technology, however, the payback time can be as little as three, and maybe even two years.
Will New Solar Energy Technology Push Solar Energy Forward?
