New Solar Energy Storage Technology

In this news item, Enviro-News brings you coverage of a pair of significant new solar technology advancements, both of which have considerable future potential. 

A professor at Boston-based MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has put forward an idea based on domestic solar energy storage.  While many solar energy-harnessing projects are currently being worked on in locations around the world, a large number are concerned with maximising energy efficiency, and are large-scale in nature.  An issue with solar power, however, is that, by definition, its provision is limited to daytime hours, unless a way can be found to effectively store it. 

Storing Solar Energy

As far as some industry analysts are concerned, its only a matter of time before solar energy becomes a personal endeavour.  In other words, individual homeowners collecting and storing solar energy, and this is where MIT Professor Daniel Nocera’s new study comes into play. 

In his paper, Nocera talks about the creation of a fully-functioning, cheap solar storage system for domestic settings.  The heartbeat of the system is a novel catalyst that splits H2O (water) into its individual components (hydrogen and oxygen) from which electricity can be derived.  The process mirrors the natural concept of photosynthesis, in which plants convert sunlight into energy.

Personalised Solar Energy

The twin effects of an ever-increasing global population and the better standards of living being enjoyed by more and more people mean that global energy demand will have doubled by 2050 and increased three-fold by 2100, Nocera states.  So-called personalised solar energy, he argues, could be a way of meeting this demand, and could be particularly beneficial for undeveloped nations. 

“Because energy use scales with wealth, point-of-use solar energy will put individuals, in the smallest village in the non-legacy world and in the largest city of the legacy world, on a more level playing field”, he states.

Solar Energy Production

In related solar energy production news, new optical fibre technology could offer a pathway to cheap solar power production, according to scientists writing in the current edition of German chemistry publication Angewandte Chemie.  This technology involves nanostructures arranged around optical fibres, covered with dye-sensitised solar cells. 

These cells produce electricity by employing a photochemical system, offer flexibility and durability and are cheap to make.  Compared to silicon cells, their energy efficiency is limited, but the incorporation of nanostructure arrays in this new solar technology could boost this. 

“Using this technology, we can make photovoltaic generators that are foldable, concealed and mobile”, Georgia Institute of Technology’s Zhong Lin Wang explained.  “Optical fibre could conduct sunlight into a building’s walls where the nanostructures would convert it to electricity.

“This is truly a three dimensional solar cell.”

Enviro News will provide further coverage of both of these new solar technologies as future facts emerge.