A device out of Stanford University is promising to revolutionise solar panel technology by being able to harness the power of both light and heat.
Scientists have always used both light and heat from the sun to produce energy, however, they hadn’t yet discovered a way to efficiently utilize both simultaneously – until now!
Most accountable renewable energy invokes the following: *Solar Radiation *Wind Power *Wave Power *Hydroelectricity *Biomass And only a fraction of the radiation gathered from the sun is really used but scientists at Stanford have found a way to crack this with their Photon Enhanced Thermionic Emission device, or PETE device.
What a PETE device ultimately does is simultaneously combine light and heat from solar radiation, which helps to produce electricity from solar technology. In technical terms, photon enhanced thermionic emission is a process that harvests wasted heat and solar energy and brings together thermal and solar cell conversion at high temperature levels for the best and cleanest results.
What this means is that unlike most solar panels, which have decreased efficiency as the temperature rises, the PETE technology process creates panels that work the other way and actually increase efficiency as the temperature rises.
This is not only a state of the art technology but could potentially reduce the costs for the production of solar power to the point of where it could be a real competitor against oil as a source of energy.
Real world practical solutions like PETE provide for greater sustainability and are a minuscule step towards ultimately lowering earth’s carbon footprint.
Author: Jack Lundee
- Follower of the Clinton Global Initiative, brainchild of Doug Band.
