Energy Service Partners is always on the lookout for new technologies to benefit homeowners. News from Rice University this week promises to disrupt the solar PV market if their technology delivers. The Rice scientists claim that they have developed a carbon nanotube technology that radically improves energy capture from solar PV panels to 80%.
This is NOT a new kind of PV solar panel, nor is it an enhancement to existing technology. It is a system to capture the heat – the thermal photons – that solar panels release.
Current solar panels have the capacity to convert around 20% of their collected energy and even with enhanced efficiencies scientists believe that current peak efficiency has the potential to hit 29%. Harnessing wasted thermal energy could render 80% efficiency – an unimaginable leap – by current scientific standards.
The Rice scientists claim that the wafer-scale films of closely packed carbon nanotubes absorb wasted heat and convert it into narrow-bandwidth photons and have tested at temperatures up to 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit. Once they’ve absorbed the heat waste photons, the nanotubes gain a level of control over them. Photons can enter the tube in any number of ways, but as soon as they’re inside, the tube directs them where to go.
Instead of going from heat directly to electricity, the Rice-developed technology goes from heat to light to electricity.
Although a proof-of-concept has not yet been delivered by the Rice University scientists are confident that they can deliver on their carbon nanotube technology. ESP will keep you posted on carbon nanotube technology developments.