500 times the light of a traditional cell? And if traditional cells run at what, somewhere from 7 to 12% efficiency for standard ones?
So he's getting what, upwards of 3500% efficiency? Even accounting for the extra energy of using ultraviolet wavelengths, this sounds a lot like bad math.
Now if he boosted the efficiency to say, three times what we get now? That'd be amazing all on its own.
The best solar cells have something like 30% efficiency at the moment. Even if he boosted it by 1% it would be impressive.
At the moment I've got no idea what he _actually_ did. Obviously, parts of this story are complete BS (e.g. 500 times). Is there something genuinely worthwhile? I haven't read a sufficiently detailed article to figure it out.
Maybe the efficiency only counts the visible radiation? So that the fact that it uses ultraviolent screws up the 7-15% (that is, if you include UV light, its much lower?) That'd be my guess...
Although it is rather low on facts and high on hype.
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500 times the light of a traditional cell? And if traditional cells run at what, somewhere from 7 to 12% efficiency for standard ones?
So he's getting what, upwards of 3500% efficiency? Even accounting for the extra energy of using ultraviolet wavelengths, this sounds a lot like bad math.
Now if he boosted the efficiency to say, three times what we get now? That'd be amazing all on its own.
The best solar cells have something like 30% efficiency at the moment. Even if he boosted it by 1% it would be impressive.
At the moment I've got no idea what he _actually_ did. Obviously, parts of this story are complete BS (e.g. 500 times). Is there something genuinely worthwhile? I haven't read a sufficiently detailed article to figure it out.
Maybe the efficiency only counts the visible radiation? So that the fact that it uses ultraviolent screws up the 7-15% (that is, if you include UV light, its much lower?) That'd be my guess...
Although it is rather low on facts and high on hype.
Yes, I think you're right.
From the article: Most solar cells in use today are either photovoltaic, meaning they harness only visible light, or thermal.
Also: they're engineered to stand freely in three dimensions
So you have panels that catch both visible and UV light, and can do it in three dimensions.
The amount of energy coming through in the UV portion of the spectrum is quite small:
http://www.sunwindsolar.com/a_images/solar_insolation-b.jpg
Everything to the left of the "visible light" portion.
Huh. In that case, there's no way that '500 times' can have any bearing towards reality whatsoever. :)