permaculture

[John Schinnerer <john@eco-living.net>]

Aloha,

> ISIS Press Release 17/01/06
> Solar Power Comes of Age
> Solar Power for the Masses
> Solar power is poised to enter the mainstream energy market with novel
> materials that boost energy conversion efficiency and bring down
> manufacturing costs.

Solar is about the highest embedded (fossil) energy technolgy amongst 
the 'alternative' options (and even with the technologies mentioned in 
this article).

Best return for least input is from systems where most of the 
'infrastructure' is already provided by natural systems.

Tide and wave energy systems are about the best in this respect.
Micro-hydro is also very good in appropriate context (e.g. adequate head 
with minimal infrastructure needs; year-round flow or complementary to 
other seasonal such as wind; etc.).

FWIW on this:

> Multi-junction cells based on amorphous silicon have been the most
> successful second-generation technology todate. ... One such product on
> the market is a triple-junction flexible solar panel [5] made of three
> separate amorphous silicon layers, each with a different bandgap, so as
> to harvest light from the entire solar spectrum, and works even in
> cloudy conditions. It has a conversion efficiency of 13 percent; and a
> test panel averaged nearly 70 percent of its rated maximum output during
> the daylight hours of a typically grey British winter (1998/9).

This is UniSolar's product.  The above copy is almost verbatim from 
their own advertising PR.
When buying my panels I tried to verify UniSolar's claims of significant 
advantages in cloudy/lower-light conditions vs. crystalline panels.
I was unable to find convincing evidence (from either dealers/resellers 
or tests/studies, including the one mentioned above) that there was 
enough benefit to offset the considerably higher cost per watt.

John S.

--

John Schinnerer - MA, Whole Systems Design
------------------------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Whole Systems Design Services
People - Place - Learning - Integration
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net