Solar Power World

Self-assembling solar cells recycle themselves repeatedly

Plants are good at doing what scientists and engineers have been struggling to do for decades: converting sunlight into stored energy, and doing so reliably day after day, year after year. Now MIT scientists have succeeded in mimicking a key aspect of that process. One of the problems with harvesting sunlight is that the sun’s rays can be highly destructive to many materials. Sunlight leads to a gradual degradation of many systems developed to harness it. But plants... Read More

Concentrated Solar Converters Prefer the Shine

By John Gyorki, Editorial Director Solar energy can be converted to electrical energy in two ways: First, with photovoltaic (PV) cells and second, with solar energy collectors that use the sun’s heat to run turbines coupled to electric generators. If you are contemplating either system for powering your facility, you want to weigh both their advantages and disadvantages. PV panels, for instance, is the most widely used type of a solar generator today and its application continues... Read More