is there really a technology more efficient and cheaper than solar cells? if yes, what is it?

Question

is there really a technology more efficient and cheaper than solar cells? if yes, what is it? can you explain or give websites to me? thanks

is there really a technology more efficient and cheaper in producing eletricity or energy than solar cells? if yes, what is it?

Answer 1

The inefficiency in solar cells is because they convert from one energy form to another, there are always "losses" when you convert from one form of energy to another. Using energy in its original form is always more efficient.

Solar cell designs are becoming more efficient but will always have limitations.

Answer 2

If you are talking about solar power, for the same amount of generated electricity, solar thermal plants are more efficient and less expensive than most solar cells. Thermochemical solar-hydrogen generators are definitely going to be more efficient and cheaper than solar cells and electrolysis if the goal is to make transportation fuels, but that technology is still in its infancy. Having said that, solar cells are the only technology which has a physics potential to come very close to the thermodynamic limits around 95% for solar to electricity conversion. Yes, there is a limit and yes, it is thermodynamic and everyone who tells you something else simply proves that they don't understand the problem. But I won't go into details here. Realistically I expect to see 30% to 50% efficient solar panels become the standard 30 years from now. Why? The average single family home in the US will need to create approx. 2kW of continuous power. Solar has approx. 15-20% uptime, so you need 5-6 times as much peak capacity, i.e. 10-12kW at noon on a sunny day. At 30% efficiency, this is around 40m^3 of solar collection area, roughly as much as the average single family home has available (not all buildings are facing the right direction, most of the times half the roof slants in the wrong direction etc.). An economic disadvantage of 50% or even 100% of these highly efficient solar panels over the price of solar electricity from other technologies might not matter much. Why? Because solar energy requires large areas to collect enough energy. We can create enormous amounts of collection area for free (or even at a negative cost) on our roofs. Why is the cost negative? Because rooftop solar can and ultimately should be architecturally integrated into the roof structure. Instead of being an add-on, solar panels can be made to be the roof, which saves the money for the roofing materials and labor. Also, locally generated solar energy has much smaller transmission costs and losses than large power plants built somewhere in the middle of the desert. You have to look at all these differences between technologies in detail and you will find that they all fit some portion of the bill. And finally, we need to get a grip on our economic miscalculations. Solar energy might be a few percent more expensive than coal or nuclear, but it has far fewer and cheaper side effects. To save a little money today and burden our kids with twice the bill for global warming and the resulting problems is a foolish thing to do. Most people need to be taught proper accounting to actually realize that these debts are real and that they will have to be paid back. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

NO there really is not YET.

Something that will help would be for our Government to support hydrogen powered power plants and cars. Making hydrogen is way easy to do but requires a engine that will not rust because burning home made hydrogen in a engine makes nothing but water.

So it will never be supported because if you can hook a solar panel to a gallon of watter with a little salt in it (3/4 of the world is free salt water) and make electric. This has been around for over one hundred years but has always been stomped out by the big oil money. They have allowed solar to get to where it is because it was not a hazard to big oil when it started. And really still is not because it can't be used on a car.

Answer 4

Yes it is called passive solar, it is the principle basis for earth-ships, solar hot water, solar cookers, etc.

Answer 5

The cheapest way to make electricity is hydroelectric. Falling water turning turbines. Way WAAAAYYY cheaper than solar cells.

Answer 6

gas, oil or coal fired generating plants all produce cheaper kWh's than solar cells.

Answer 7

Fossil fuels. Which is why they're our main energy source.

But burning them has one extremely nasty side effect (global warming). Which is why we need to drastically reduce our use.

Efficiency and direct cost isn't everything. You need to consider the big picture.

Considering that, we need to develop nuclear, solar, and wind energy; much more of all of them. We have a very big problem to solve.

Answer 8

I do not know of one. I am going to star this question. Hope we find out!

Answer 9

Yes there is. Thermonuclear energy, but the consequences might be catastrophic.