A Curious Tale About Solar Panels
A Curious Tale About Solar Panels
THE SEPTEMBER 2006 ISSUE OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN was devoted to exploring the future of energy beyond the carbon age. The editors share a sobering outlook: 'Decades might pass previously hydrogen-powered trucks and cars relegate gasoline-and diesel-fueled vehicles to antique auto shows.' Until that happens, we'll 'muddle-through' somehow. (Scientific American: 3).
Why does it take so long for some energy technologies to get from the laboratory and industrial applications to the service of consumers? Take photovoltaic panels, for instance.
A high-street electronics chain in London now sells instructional solar-power kits for around the ₤ 20 mark. Major, roof-dwelling solar panels that will power devices in your home sell in DIY superstores at around ₤ 2,500. That's a price-tag for the rich or really devoted, but a minimum of customers can push their trolleys past the innovation.
SOLAR PANELS HAVE ONLY RECENTLY APPEARED on the shelves of retail outlets, so you 'd forgive them for posturing as new technology. His name was D. Bollen, and he supplied a circuit for a solar-powered battery charger.
As he put it: 'The ability of solar batteries to convert sunlight straight into beneficial electrical energy has been well demonstrated in satellite applications. A benefit of the solar battery is that is enables true, ignored operation in areas remote from a power supply and ... guarantees an outstanding degree of dependability.' (Wireless World: 343).
Over four meticulously-illustrated pages, Bollen goes on to provide a blueprint for a circuit that will trickle-charge a battery from a solar battery. Bollen shows that you can run something that utilizes one milliamp of current for '2.74 hours' in a 24 hour duration. He leaves us thinking what application he had in mind for this tiny present, however the rig could also have powered the bulb of a toy torch for a few 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 truth it's the simplest of the bunch in this edition of a publication that was pitched at everybody in between newbie manufacturer and electronics professional.
Someone with hardly any experience could have thrown a demonstration version of this circuit together in fifteen minutes flat. And You Can Try This Source were available from professional suppliers in London and south-east England.
The listed provider for 'various selenium and silicon cells' is International Rectifier. I called the business to learn how much a similar solar-cell expense at the time Bollen composed his feature.
A single cell determining about a centimetre by 2 centimetres cost four dollars, right approximately 1966. In his function, Bollen explains different mixes in between one cell and 4, so the most pricey 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.
However what returned from International Rectifier (IR) proved far more intriguing than cost information. It turns out that the business had actually shown the world's first solar-powered car - a 1912 design of the Baker Electric - as early as 1958. They attained the stunt by making a high-output solar panel - less than two metres long and simply over a metre large - from a whole bank of little solar batteries.
Commercial, industrial and military clients went on to buy photovoltaic panels from International Rectifier.
WHY HAS IT TAKEN ALMOST FIFTY YEARS for solar panels to reach our shops?
Southface, a non-profit, sustainable-living organisation based in the USA, mention that solar-cell technology has had actually been uselessly contending against the relative fall in rate that occurred in the fossil-fuel market in the nineties.
But Southface believe that significant orders of consumer solar cell systems in nations such as Japan might lastly indicate the start of an era when solar cell production will take advantage of economies of scale.
I hope so. In the meantime, it's anyone's guess how long will it take for the consumer-led innovation transformation to swat our energy issues.
© Alistair Siddons, 2006.
Major, 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 posing as new technology. As he put it: 'The ability 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 achieved the stunt by making a high-output solar panel - less than two metres long and just over a metre large - from an entire bank of little solar cells.