A Curious Tale About Solar Panels
A Curious Tale About Solar Panels
THE SEPTEMBER 2006 ISSUE OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN was committed to exploring the future of energy beyond the carbon era. (Scientific American: 3).
Why does it take so long for some energy technologies to get from the lab and industrial applications to the service of customers? Take solar panels, for example.
A high-street electronics chain in London now sells instructional solar-power kits for around the ₤ 20 mark. Serious, roof-dwelling photovoltaic panels that will power devices in your home sell in DIY superstores at around ₤ 2,500. That's a price-tag for the wealthy or extremely dedicated, however a minimum of customers can press their trolleys past the technology.
SOLAR PANELS HAVE ONLY RECENTLY APPEARED on the racks of retail outlets, so you 'd forgive them for posing as brand-new technology. They're not. While England was priming itself for what was to become its most well-known World Cup, a factor to the July 1966 edition of Wireless World dealt with a copy due date for the magazine. His name was D. Bollen, and he supplied a circuit for a solar-powered battery charger.
As he put it: 'The ability of solar cells to transform sunlight directly into helpful electrical energy has actually been well shown in satellite applications. An advantage of the solar battery is that is allows true, ignored operation in areas remote from a power supply and ... guarantees an impressive degree of reliability.' (Wireless World: 343).
Over four meticulously-illustrated pages, Bollen goes on to supply a plan for a circuit that will trickle-charge a battery from a solar cell. Bollen reveals that you can run something that utilizes one milliamp of existing for '2.74 hours' in a 24 hour duration. He leaves us guessing what application he had in mind for this small existing, however the rig could also have actually powered the bulb of a toy torch for a couple of seconds a day.
Still, the circuit is there and the date is mid-1966. Don't be sidetracked by Bollen's talk of 'satellite applications'. His circuit is a million miles from rocket-science-- in fact it's the most basic of the lot in this edition of a publication that was pitched at everyone in between newbie manufacturer and electronics professional.
Someone with barely any experience could have tossed a presentation variation of this circuit together in fifteen minutes flat. And solar share were readily available from professional suppliers in London and south-east England.
The listed provider for 'various selenium and silicon cells' is International Rectifier. I contacted the company to find out how much a comparable solar-cell expense at the time Bollen composed his feature.
A single cell determining about a centimetre by two centimetres cost four dollars, right as much as 1966. In his function, Bollen describes various mixes in between one cell and 4, so the most expensive part of his circuit cost in between four and 16 dollars, or about $25-100 dollars in today's cash.
World's very first solar-powered automobile: 1912.
But what came back from International Rectifier (IR) showed far more fascinating than rate info. It turns out that the business had actually shown the world's first solar-powered automobile - a 1912 model of the Baker Electric - as early as 1958. They attained the stunt by making a high-output photovoltaic panel - less than two metres long and just over a metre broad - from a whole bank of little solar batteries.
Commercial, commercial and military consumers went on to buy solar panels from International Rectifier.
SO WHY HAS IT TAKEN ALMOST FIFTY YEARS for photovoltaic panels to reach our stores?
Southface, a non-profit, sustainable-living organisation based in the USA, mention that solar-cell technology has actually had actually been uselessly competing versus the relative fall in rate that took place in the fossil-fuel market in the nineties.
Southface think that major orders of customer solar cell units in countries such as Japan might finally signify the start of a period when solar cell production will benefit from economies of scale.
I hope so. In the meantime, it's anyone's guess the length of time will it consider the consumer-led technology revolution to swat our energy issues.
© Alistair Siddons, 2006.
Serious, roof-dwelling solar panels that will power equipment in your house sell in DIY warehouse stores at around ₤ 2,500. SOLAR PANELS HAVE ONLY RECENTLY APPEARED on the shelves of retail outlets, so you 'd forgive them for positioning as brand-new technology. As he put it: 'The capability of solar cells to transform sunlight directly into useful electrical energy has actually been well shown in satellite applications. Over four meticulously-illustrated pages, Bollen goes on to provide a blueprint for a circuit that will trickle-charge a battery from a solar cell. They attained the stunt by making a high-output solar panel - less than 2 metres long and just over a metre wide - from a whole bank of little solar cells.