Solar is the cheapest power, and a literal light-bulb moment showed us we can cut costs and emissions even further

Thu, 25 Aug 2022 01:32:55 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/solar-is-the-cheapest-power-and-a-literal-light-bulb-moment-showed-us-we-can-cut-costs-and-emissions-even-further-187008>

"Recent extreme weather events have underscored the need to cut the CO₂
emissions that are driving up global temperatures. This requires a rapid
transition of the energy economy to renewable energy sources, the cheapest
being solar photovoltaics (PV). And our newly published research points to a
way we can drive down costs of the shift even further using cheaper forms of
silicon for highly efficient solar panels.

Australia has been leading the way with solar PV installations, but our solar
energy journey is just beginning. This year, humanity hit a milestone of 1
terawatt (TW) – 1 million × 1 million watts –  of installed solar capacity.
However, experts predict 70TW of solar PV may be needed by 2050 to power all
sectors of the economy.

To help drive this rapid uptake of solar PV, we need solar panels that are high
efficiency and low cost. Over the past ten years, some new solar cell designs
have led to record high efficiencies. The problem is these designs also need
higher-quality materials, which cost more.

Our recent research suggests we might be able to rethink the type of silicon
needed to make these high-efficiency solar cells."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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