Using supercomputers, researchers at Ohio State University have accidentally stumbled upon a new solar cell material that is capable of absorbing all the sun’s visible light energy, translating it into a potential of almost 100% efficiency.

This solar cell material not only fluoresces, it also phosphoresces. Electrons in a phosphorescent state remain at a place where the energy can be siphoned off as electricity over seven million times longer than those generated in a fluorescent state. With the technology utilizing fluoresces comes the problem of solar energy retention in geographic locations where long-term overcast is an issue. During the winter, between the pole and the polar circle, there is a period that there is no intervening day between consecutive nights, making fluoresces technology useless.

Without getting too technical or confusing, the basic structure of this new discovery utilizes a material comprised of a hybrid of plastics, molybdenum, and titanium that can be captured and stored for future use.

Currently, traditional solar cell materials use fluorescence to gather electricity in what’s termed a “single state.” Excited electrons last only a dozen or so picoseconds, or a trillionth of a second. With the new discovery, the material that was created causes not only fluorescing electrons in the singlet state to be created, but also phosphorescing electrons in what’s called a triplet state that remain excited much longer. With this longer lasting state of free electron flow, their ability to be captured is significantly greater than current technologies. (more…)

Last year, the Supreme Court made a decision that gave the EPA federal power to regulate CO2 emissions. Last month, the EPA used this power and finally showed America’s energy industry that it means business.

Where once the EPA’s refusal to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants was the norm, now stands an empowered EPA, thanks to the High Courts decision in 2007. The decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, ruled in favor of 12 state plaintiffs that the agency was ignoring its duties under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA will no longer grant permits for projects that don’t adequately consider the alleviation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Even in the nine months since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the first case, Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 05-1120, and accelerating since the elections in November, there has been a growing interest among industry groups in working with environmental organizations on proposals for emissions limits.

The EPA is putting a stop to the development of new coal-based power plants and the future is uncertain for other plants that are already in the development stage. (more…)

At the heart of most solar panels is a small piece of electronics: the silicon semiconductor. That little slice of material is not just the catalyst behind your solar panels but also your stereo, television, and cell phone. Any further questions about how photovoltaics and everyday electronic devices are related can be assuaged by noticing the rapid and simultaneous advancement of the cell phone and the solar panel. It all comes down to circuitry.

Researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois had already developed electronic circuits that could bend and stretch. Now they’ve taken that a step further to a circuit that can be twisted. Besides the obvious medical implications of technology that could twist, stretch, and bend with the human body, this could be huge for the solar industry. (more…)