

Solar power game-changer: 'Near perfect' absorption of sunlight, from all angles - ph0rque
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/11/03/solar.power.game.changer.near.perfect.absorption.sunlight.all.angles

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mkn
The writer doesn't seem to be aware of the notion of flux when he/she writes
that this innovation will make sun-tracking obsolete. Basic trigonometry shows
you that, even if the panel absorbs all of the radiation that it intercepts at
a high angle, at higher angles the panel intercepts less radiation.

The cosine function is a wonderful thing, and 100% of nothing is still...
<mumble>carry the four, divide by seven, minus pi</mumble>... nothing.

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jws
Black paint does this too. Absorption is not the goal of a solar panel. It's a
shame they don't say anything about conversion. I suspect if it helped with
that, there would have been numbers to support it.

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ars
"...would absorb 96.21 percent of sunlight no matter the position of the sun
in the sky..."

I'm pretty sure that's impossible, and a violation of physics. Maybe it's
better than other coatings, but I'm pretty sure it's not the same 96.21 from
every angle.

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kqr2
Solyndra is producing a cylindrical shaped solar panel which is capable of
capturing light from more directions:

<http://www.solyndra.com/Products/Optimized-PV>

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yan
Seems too sensationalist to be plausible...

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noonespecial
Yep. Getting tired of the cycle. Every 3-6 months since 98 or so (when I
started reading slashdot) there's a "major discovery that will revolutionize
solar power!". The article spends three lines on a few pseudo-scientific
generalizations and the rest gushing about how power generation companies'
days are numbered.

Its been a _decade_. Photo-voltaic solar still sucks just as much as it did
before the turn of the century. I'm tired of hearing about anti-glare
coatings, stupid mirror tricks, splitting water to get hydrogen with your
solar power, etc. Sticking a plain old solar cell in your rube-goldberg is
_not_ a breakthrough. Call me when we get _drastically_ more efficient silicon
wafers. You can keep your mirrors.

Sorry for the rant y'all.

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hugh
_Call me when we get drastically more efficient silicon wafers_

Not gonna happen: we're already at 30%, and don't have room for a "drastic"
increase.

I'm far more interested in a drastic reduction in cost.

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DaniFong
And durability. Deserts would be perfect for solar power, were it not for
sandstorms...

