Exploring solar panel efficiency breakthroughs in 2020

[@andresfeliperamosromero3060]

This panel can put out close to 100 watts kzbin.infoUgkxOqI2yqX0XVrhR2BMJciTWrHJpG8FhJyg when positioned in the appropriate southernly direction, tilted to the optimal angle for your latitude/date, and connected to a higher capacity device than a 500. The built in kickstand angle is a fixed at 50 degrees. Up to 20% more power can be output by selecting the actual date and latitude optimal angle.The 500 will only input 3.5A maximum at 18 volts for 63 watts. Some of the excess power from the panel can be fed into a USB battery bank, charged directly from the panel while also charging a 500. This will allow you to harvest as much as 63 + 15 = 78 watts.If this panel is used to charge a larger device, such as the power station, then its full output potential can be realized.

[@funny-video-YouTube-channel]

Energy creates wealth on our planet. ( machines, mobility, cheap products, etc... ) Cheap Solar power is going to create a lot of wealth for humanity.

[@jamescaley9942]

In the past solar has proved better at generating government subsidies than electricity.

[@mennovanlavieren3885]

@@jamescaley9942 lol. That was when they were expensive. Governments like to subsidise expensive technology with no power to cange the world. Good for pocketing money without disrupting the status quo. Now solar price is in the market disruptive range. Politicians will become more sceptical and oppose progress.

[@ecospider5]

Look at a lot of the new oil drilling sites. They are using solar to power the site because it is cheaper than using the oil they are pumping. Solar is definitely going to power the future.

[@souloftheage]

@@jamescaley9942 And oil DOESNT have government subsidies?. Everything about the fossil fuel industry is supported by direct or indirect(thing called THE MILITARY) subsidies. Not including the massive cost externalities to our environment that fossil fuels inflict. When Saudi Arabia begins to invest in solar power then the writing is on the wall. And people-like you-still refuse to accept that the oil industry was ever anything other than numerous independent energy producers who asked nothing of their government but to be allowed to help the U.S. consumer enjoy well lit homes by which to read The Bible to their children.

[@souloftheage]

@J Smith You'd enjoy the argument that a conservative made on another KZbin video that the very reason we should pour massive funding into the U.S. mikitary is that they develop technology that is useful for all Americans. Sounds like subsidies benefit all iff it's the military who's receiving the subsidy. If a nation decides that what is best for all is to move in a particular direction, then subsidies to guarantee bringing that technology to fruition within a certain time frame is a benefit not a burden. And it's not called communism or socialism but a shared national view. And it used to be that that was a good thing. Now what makes the U.S. a nation is the pursue of happiness and that is simply MONEY. I don't believe a common good has to be of such a limited nature: the least common denominator. It didn't have to be in the past. Why does it have to be now?

[@Isambardify]

Behold the dark lord who draws power from the very shadows around us! *Slowly charges watch.

[@UndecidedMF]

😂

[@robertoguedes9280]

May the dark side be with you padawan.

[@dag_of_the_west5416]

OTEC plants produce electricity and desalinated water from the thermal difference between surface and deep ocean water. So basically light versus dark as well.

[@Anthonybrother]

Can't wait for the first Marvel movie featuring Knull

[@remyllebeau77]

"Perfectly balanced, as all things should be."

[@TheDragonsword123]

Hey Matt, don't know if you'll see this comment, but highly recommend checking solar optical rectifiers (a.k.a optical rectennas) as a subject for future solar panel technology. They're basically antennas, but for the optical and infrared spectrum. This means solar panels with theoretical near 100% efficiencies (in reality, experimental rectennas tuned for microwaves reach around 90%). This kind of tech would change the world dramatically, as we would finally be able to materialize things like mainstream solar powered cars and grid scale wireless energy transfer. There's a company called Novasolix that apparently has 90% theoretical efficiency with their cell design. Hopefully they aren't vaporware, because their tech is very interesting.

[@FixItStupid]

I Know This Tech & I See This Coming Soon using high-speed RF diodes with multiple junctions for the rest of the spectrum

[@MeowTheCheesepuff]

Reminds me of the tartarian atmospheric energy antiquetech

[@craigcorson3036]

Would you buy a car that doesn't work in the dark?

[@Diablokiller999]

Can you also do a video about the recycling of solar panels and the environmental impact of that? I don't find so much good sources for that, maybe you've better luck.

[@UndecidedMF]

It's on the agenda!

[@bestdjaf7499]

And since you are there, tell China not to use coal & child/slave labour for solar production/mining. And make the solar panels just to appear on the roof.

[@johannb.gumundsson7305]

Solar is not being deployed for environmental reasons. People that think they are being mislead by the industry or simply are ill-informed. There is no financial incentive to recycle solar so no one does that ( or only does that for a short period of time before going bankrupt ) so that would be rather short video...

[@johannb.gumundsson7305]

@Steve Fortuna Is that something that some solar companies are promising or claiming that they will do? The EU legislative only states that the producers of the modules are obligated to collect and dispose of modules at the end of their life-cycle ( presumably that means their warranty ) so EU citizens cant be charged with any waste disposal costs for the panel they have purchased. It says nothing about them having to recycle it nor anything about what happens to the solar panel created by companies that no longer exist. Probably the only other place on the planet beside EU that might have similar legislative in place is state of California.

[@johannb.gumundsson7305]

@Steve Fortuna you probably meant to say 97.4% of current manufactured panels are recyclable. That said that a product can be recycle does not mean it will or that process is environmental friendly ( hydrometallurgical recycling process is not exactly CO2 free process or the result from such process producing as pure material as the original so it cannot be re-used by the original manufacturer ). First and foremost there has to be a economically viable technology for recycling materials ( regardless where they come from solar panels or somewhere else like lithium batteries ) which provides the recycled material for the manufactures at a lower price so there exists an financial incentive for the manufacturers to buy and or re-use the material that is recycled. But let's assume that solar panel are "all green from beginning to end" and put aside the fact that 8 million tons of solar photovoltaic panels are expected to hit landfills globally by the end of this decade with toxic materials from those panels leaching into the soil( so we are saving the air by polluting the ground. ). That wont solve the other yet rarely mentioned problem solar panels create ( since there are only few environmental journalists willing to report on much of anything other than the good news about renewables ) and that's their threat to biodiversity...

[@alexdaharp]

Hi, great work! Your interpretation of the Shockley Queisser limit is slightly off. It is actually a fundamental limit for a single junction cell (a single diode on the chip) no matter what the material is. This is based around a concept known as the band gap, which is the energy an electron in a semiconductor or insulator needs to be be able to flow. More succinctly, it is the energy a photon needs to produce current (I'm trying to avoid jargon and going into too much detail). Any photon with energy less than the band gap does nothing, while any photon with energy more than the band gap produces current. The issue is that if a photon has more energy than the band gap, that excess energy is not converted into current due to other effects that I am avoiding. The idea behind the limit is that you compare the emission of the sun vs an ideal solar cell, it is the maximum amount of power that can be produced based on the limitations above. There are tricks to get around this limit though such as layering junctions like you mentioned, but there are a couple of other ones such as photon upconversion that have the potential to be much cheaper since you don't have to layer junctions, but just have to find a way to incorporate a molecular film.

[@ritemee20]

It does depend on the bandgap and thereby a particular material.

[@souloftheage]

@@ritemee20 I was going to say the same thing. But I didn't want to sound like a smarty pants. I allow others to get some of the limelight on occasion. Even if their ideas are WRONG.

[@robh467]

Three dimensional...multi spectrum panels; with silver, wired in piggyback parallel circuitry.... Equals over eighty percent. The end. You're "enlightened".

[@mauroscimone8584]

And Singlet Fission is a way to increase efficiency avoiding multijuction methode, right?

[@skyhiker9669]

Matt, you are my hero! I’ve been following photovoltaic technology since I first read about it in National Geographic’s when I was in 6th grade and that was in 1975. Great information, you’ve confirmed my love and passion for this technology.

[@samguapo4573]

Keep on following Sky Hiker. We're in great times and the naysayers don't have much further to go on.

[@skyhiker9669]

sam guapo AMEN to that!

[@someotherdude]

A 1974 Nat Geo article on wind power completely captured my imagination as a child and I've been interested ever since. I'm sure I still have it somewhere.

[@JB78ization]

Fantastic update, this is solid gold!!! your information sharing is efficient nearly 100% :)

[@UndecidedMF]

Glad you think so!

[@robh467]

Three dimensional...multi spectrum panels; with silver, wired in piggyback parallel circuitry.... Equals over eighty percent. The end. You're "enlightened".

[@JB78ization]

@@robh467 Thank you. How do you feel about the use of perovskite as one of the material components to these multi dimensional panels. Cheers

[@robh467]

@@JB78ization anytime you think of the word efficiency in modern applications. Remember the words mass production, and profit. If you went out in your shed to make a few alternators that would last a lifetime for you to benefit from...and your children... Cost and materials wouldn't be sacrificed, especially when for the same size alternator as your vehicle uses you could use costly, high quality, materials and reap thousands of times more output and/or efficiency. And of course I'm just talking about gold and silver and rare earth metals. ECT. Solar cell you would use gold and silver. Three dimensional. Piggybacking. ECT. ECT. Easily a hundred percent or more. Hard to believe. But would you believe the sun can throw a bowling pin at ten pins and knock the all down. A hundred. Bowling, lol, another fancy term like nuclear. Nuclear, and solar. But just rebuild our alternators and put them in rotating turbines. Amazing how far transmissions have come in the last few years as well.

[@chubbyninja842]

Great video. Also, this is what I'm talking about when I go off on alarmists that begin every debate with "If we do nothing, the world..." which completely ignores things like what's happening in this video. We're already NOT doing nothing. We're literally doing everything. We're advancing green energy all the time and the more it's advanced, the closer it gets to replacing fossil fuels. We can't just flip the switch today because it's not quite economically feasible. It would crash our economy for a VERY long time and set us back a very long way if we were forced to go all green today. There just wouldn't be enough power for everybody or everything. People would be burning wood to cook with, and that's worse than using natural gas or the electricity from a coal-fired plant. Green energy is coming and it gets closer every day. Stop freaking out. The world isn't going to end in that time. I promise you it's not.

[@nevermore0]

What we really need is a breakthrough in US solar regulations.

[@mr2octavio]

Wait for the sun to turn off for that

[@wishingb5859]

Agreed. Yes, the government won't subsidize the regulating the companies to not scam the customers. I am still shopping but the number of scam videos even from the top solar companies is way too high. I am supposed to get in a conversation with a company next week and now I saw so many scam videos about them that I want to cancel.

[@socaliguy81]

Vote Blue.

[@MikeHunt-up3li]

D L tell them that. Maybe it’ll do you good and they can prove legitimacy

[@wishingb5859]

@@MikeHunt-up3li It is interesting because I ended up finding out that Tesla has changed how they do solar. They dropped the cost by 30%. They don't do sales pitches. They already sold me because they put their prices on their page.

[@noorahmadshinwari4053]

@9:30 "Their working prototype generates ~1.2 VOLTS. Which is enough energy to power a watch". Volts is not a measure of energy or power. That sentence is not very useful.

[@tomfly3155]

That's true, I would say that's 300 mW for the watch. I base that statement on nothing but a guess tho

[@PhxElecAuto]

Sunpower panels are the best ever created. They run coolest, they have the intercell connections on the back for more surface area. They produce 50% more than other panels of the same wattage.

[@will2see]

"...which generates power from ... you guessed it ... shadows" - No, I haven't guessed it! You said it at least 5 times before!!!

[@diamonddave45]

Of course I found this channel as I'm getting solar panels installed on my roof today. Good channel!

[@gunnyliu6141]

homies back in singapore kicking butt in renewables R&D - LOVE to see it

[@ricksquier7812]

Hey Matt, good overview with some good glimpses of what's to come, but... Missed one of those key options out there. It's called Solar Window. Essentially it is a near microscopic spray-on technology that is capable of harvesting photons from the sun AND man made light. Their primary model is as a replacement window or film applied to existing windows in large buildings, that is essentially CLEAR OR SEE THROUGH, AND HARVESTS THE LIGHT FROM THE SUN AND LIGHTS INSIDE THE BUILDING!!! They claim to have nearly double the harvesting of photon energy as standard poly panels. Look into it and see what you think. Good job 👍

[@UndecidedMF]

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing!

[@stevemickler452]

Wow! Great update. I've wondered about separating the light first into its component frequencies using a diffraction grating or prism in the case of a concentrating system, and then using different materials matched to these frequencies laid side by side. Rather than layers, the materials would be single layer which might lower production cost although no prism is perfectly clear, so there would be some loss relative to a multi-layer arrangement.

[@UndecidedMF]

Interesting!

[@jehiahmaduro6827]

This was a good episode but there was an even greater break though left out. One that can make solar panels 80% efficient. Scientists have achieved this by combining a layer of carbon nano tubes that focus and capture the energy from the info-red spectrum. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6jMdXquoKlslcU

[@MrWackozacko]

The best i have installed were the Sunpower 425W 72 cell. Something like 85v Voc. Very serious panel, cant wait to see that wattage in a 60 cell panel! Could fit a Kilowatt on the roof of my van by that point.

[@abhaypal97]

Did you all know that you can convert em wave(light is also em wave) into electricity through rectennas(solar rectennas)... And also there's a company working on this(novasolix)... With rectennas you can convert broad em spectrum into energy whereas pv cell only covert visible spectrum, well it's still a research tech but still fascinating.

[@benbelair7381]

cool (very cool)

[@justinw1765]

Yes, and both Tesla and later Feynman talked about tapping into atmospheric electricity. Often systems approaches work best. If we can develop systems that tap into various different bands at the same time, we'll be able to collect much more energy.

[@mauroscimone8584]

You forgot to mention Singlet Fission process, that is when a single photon can produce double electron excitement reaching a single junction silicon PV cell almost 30% efficiency and over.

[@billhanna2148]

Smashed another one out of the ball park ! Thank you AGAIN Matt ... you condensed so much material in a succinct informative flawless video of just 10 minutes 🙏👍💪🤯🤓

[@UndecidedMF]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@robh467]

Three dimensional...multi spectrum panels; with silver, wired in piggyback parallel circuitry.... Equals over eighty percent. The end. You're "enlightened".

[@jeremynielsen8013]

I work at NREL and really appreciate the delivery on this video. Really interesting discussion but easy for beginners to understand.

[@timnelson538]

I can't wait for solar technology to reach both higher efficiency and lower pricing, so that more people can jump in

[@Primer595]

Shadow technology sounds like a procedure used in electronics where I2 volts can be made using plus 6 volts and minus 6 volts to produce the required I2 volts. Similarly if you required a drop of I2 feet you can dig a 6 foot hole and make a 6 foot mound to get your I2 foot drop. Thermo-electric generators can operate with a three degree Centigrade difference. This means that zero degrees could be the hot part of of the temperature differential with minus three the cool part. This opens up a lot of possibilities.

[@theflyingwelshman5338]

I’m honestly surprised that you didn’t mention the nanostructure solar cells that are being developed. They use less material but absorb more light, giving them an almost vantablack appearance.

[@thehammurabichode7994]

Didn't know about that - If its from when this comment was posted, then it happened too late for him to talk about it

[@theflyingwelshman5338]

@@thehammurabichode7994 it’s actually been around long before then.

[@MrCPPG]

Growing up in the 70's Solar always seemed promising but outrageously expensive to even tinker with. Today the price of panels is so cheap the panels are not the cost limiter, the batteries are. I am about to put 500W of solar on top of my small cargo trailer to charge a 2.4kW system. The innovation update is really appreciated. Hopefully the perovskite panels will come onto the market within the next 5 years or so and I can increase my capacity. Great update, thanks!

[@EduardoRamoscomedy]

After today "living in shadows" turns to mean " I am charging up" ? 😎

[@FranFerioli]

With free sunlight, production cost is more important than conversion efficiency (at least for now) and cost reduction of PV have been remarkable. Right now PV is probably the cheapest way to generate electricity in most part of the world.

[@joelm077]

Just turned on my 7.4kW system...I got $1.32 a watt after federal and state incentives. 90 degrees yesterday and free AC never felt so good.

[@joelm077]

@Slippery Storm 20 panels 370 per from Moxie Solar. Do get multiple quotes as Moxie matched then beat by $100. Fed incentive drops 4% in 2021 and goes away in 2022. My quote/approval/intall/turn on was almost 4 months so get started now.

[@dmay3391]

Wow, someone bought your watt for $1.32 when 1000 of them are only $0.05. Who's burning money by buying your over priced watts? How much more taxes are you paying to get a tax rebate in your state?

[@chinmayshanbhag1567]

@@dmay3391 i guess that was the rate of panels

[@dmay3391]

@@chinmayshanbhag1567 At $1.32/kWH that's a great rate to be paid. California pays $0.05/kWh to Palo Verde Generating Station in Arizona, and keep it off California green energy reports because it's imported from a different state. Who would pay $1.32/kWh when expensive is far less than.

[@joelm077]

@@dmay3391 $1.32 per watt means the installation cost of the solar panels. I pay a mix of rates depending on summer or winter rates. Depending on how much rates rise in the future I will pay off the system in 8-10 years then get free energy after that.

[@shirolee]

Hopefully we can keep moving with this momentum. The world needs this change, for ourselves and for our planet.

[@babura1000]

Hey Matt, your videos are great: a good combination of informative and fun! Thank you for the great work! I think it is worth mentioning that hydrogen has due to the needed high pressurized storage a significantly worse efficacy than todays battery storage. As this is a physical limitation, this will limit hydrogen to specific applications. EVs with a battery will have lower costs per mile than ones powered by fuel cells, because of that.

[@gomi350z]

A good use for the shadow panels is roof shingles, shingles on a roof are overlapping. When the panels are played down the light absorbing side of one will cover the shadow side of the one above.

[@barryh.2306]

I'm doing my PhD, researching silicon solar technologies, and I've got to say this a nice summary of the field! Bifacial solar panels are also an interesting technology to increase the power output, but it doesnt help the efficiency, necessarily, so I understand leaving them out of this video.

[@danielkim7841]

Please give the world more efficient solar cells and cheaper batteries as well, for solar storage for utilities and electric cars!!!

[@danielkim7841]

Your PHD is not gonna lie, so relevant, so timely, so meaningfully, and so worthwhile!

[@mikeoxlong4043]

The amount of research done and the presentation definitely deserves a sub. Luv ur content. Keep it up!

[@ADPrevost21]

Thank you for doing this. Great work. There's been a lot of articles this year. Thanks for helping to clear things up. 👍🏼

[@UndecidedMF]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tomkelly8827]

Interesting to hear more about perovskyte developments. Multi layre, multi junction cells sound good but recycling them would be next to impossible, also manufacturing them would be very very difficult. Ocean Thermal Energy Converters are also a very exciting form of solar power, heating and cooling too. They use hot tropical surface water to boil a gas and spin a turbine and cold bottom water to condense it again. They cool the nearby waters and fertilize them, making algae, plankton and fish very abundant as a side effect

[@bigfun64mo]

As someome who spent 22 yrs in the silicon wafering industry, they're called ingot, not bars.

[@richardwhitehouse8762]

There are so many "what ifs" about domestic renewables. I took the plunge last year and had 4KWs of pvs installed on my roof plus a battery. So far so good. I have gas central heating and water (UK resident) and, because my utility supplier does both, the offsetting of excess electricity sold back to the grid means that I haven't had a utility bill since April. Recently I have been exploring ways to use the excess electricity to power my central heating and water. Here's what I found: I don't have sufficient access to the rear of my house to get a ground source heat pump system installed (excavations need to happen) I could have an Air Source Heat Pump (wet system rather than air), but although they are more efficient than gas (and greener, of course), the hot water produced is cooler than a gas boiler. So while this is fine for showers, it is less good for radiators. They work best with underfloor heating but this isn't really a retrofit option in my house. To be able to use an ASHP would require bigger radiators and insulating the (inside of) exterior walls, which for my property would be about £10K. This is in addition to the cost of installing the heat pump, although grants would make this about £3K. Still, that's a long time for payback. I could run an electric boiler from the panels for most of the year and accept that I will probably need to top up with grid electricity when the days are shorter between December and February (it doesn't get super cold in Manchester in the way that it does in parts of the US, so it shouldn't be astronomical). I think that my supplier provides renewable electricity only What is frustrating about all of this is that even the cheapest option (electric boiler) would be about twice the cost of a good gas boiler (although, in fairness it would probably not need replacing in future whereas a gas boiler certainly would) and fully renewable options are even more expensive. And that is not counting the cost of the pvs. So, at the moment, take up in the UK is quite slow. This feels a bit the same with changing from an ICE car to an EV. Even with subsidies, the upfront costs of EVs are significantly higher. This again is a disincentive.

[@5greatwaters]

I love that you delve into the chemistry and biology of things and explain it to us in a creative way. I learn a lot from your videos.

[@Sophocles13]

That was cool how you hinted at the idea of deriving power from shadows at the beginning of the video... my mind instantly started spinning and considering the possible options! I just found this channel and I already love it because of things like this. I'm not even 2 minutes into the video yet... My guess about the power from shadows idea would be that it has something to do with the temperature difference between an area that's being shaded vs an adjacent area in full sunlight. Like using a large solar shade in Arizona or something to create a sharp temperature gradient and then running some sort of Stirling Engine like device off it? Idk but I'm super interested to find out!

[@AnalystPrime]

1954: Bell Labs produces a 6% efficient solar panel. 2019: The movie "Planet of the humans" claims 4% efficiency is the most any commercially available solar panels can ever do.

[@michazajac5881]

because statistics can be spined anyhow one likes. this 21 or whatever % efficiency today is a PEAK efficiency when the panel has the MOST FAVOURABLE CONDITIONS POSSIBLE. But how much efficiency does it have when conditions are less favorable? When its a night? When it rains? When it snows? When the sky is all cloudy? When it's early morning or late evening and the sun is low? When the panel is covered in dust or bird poo? And also - not everyone lives in California - how much efficiency is it going to have during winter in Scandinavia, when you just got several hours of dim sunlight, for instance? Start taking an average and this would probably be around 4%...

[@AnalystPrime]

@@michazajac5881 No. 21% efficiency means you get 21% of incoming power. On the equator regions at summer noon that is little over kilowatt per square meter. In indirect light or during night the panel receives less photons so the output is less, but the only thing affecting the efficiency is overheating. Maybe someone calculated that 1 hour out of 24 is 4.166666% and used that, but even worst places for non-tracking solar get at least three peak hours per day and tracking panels obviously get much more. Compare that to a peaker plant that is lucky to see use for a week each year, meaning it is less than 2% efficient. Worse, peaker plants don't just turn on and off, they need to keep burning fuel 24/7/365; sunlight is free, coal and gas are not.

[@michazajac5881]

@@AnalystPrime oh, good thing that energy storage is free then. Oh wait...

[@AnalystPrime]

@@michazajac5881 Nothing is free. Basic math says if you pay $100M for fuel each year or $100M once for a battery, the cost of the battery over ten years becomes negative nine hundred million. Clearly it is not free if is worth a billion dollars.

[@michazajac5881]

@@AnalystPrime nuclear fuel is free, there's loads of old nuclear warheads waiting to be turned into fuel rods right now In the future you can run on spent fuel or stockpiles of depleted uranium or thorium - how does your example fit to that?

[@SimonZellox]

New solar technology always excites me. I spent months building a solar powered 3DS that always sits at my window to collect energy when I'm not using it. Having twice the efficiency would be huge.

[@bishwanaathsingh]

You should also tell about the price of Perovskite Solar Cell.

[@bananabrosinc.7357]

A company in south florida called Sky Fusion does something where they integrate the solar panels with the roof instead of just putting it on a railing system, really cool and looks amazing!

[@gregorypew793]

A company called Tesla does the same thing

[@bananabrosinc.7357]

@@gregorypew793 yeah if you want to wait 6 months lol and im not talking about solar glass either but fan boys will be fan boys

[@gregorypew793]

@@bananabrosinc.7357 good point and yeah I definitely have some fanboy "tendencies " on this subject

[@joanhiggin1134]

Thanks for the update on the oxford Pv solar I will wait for these 👍

[@mrrolandlawrence]

what im looking at is low voltage solar for my friends family in the mountains. it saves on all the converters etc + low voltage dc lighting with LED is quite easy. its also very easy to wire in.

[@ecospider5]

Low voltage is great for short distances 10-20 feet. The extra cost of wire at 24v compared to 400v is huge. So I run my solar shed at 24v to keep the design easy. I run my 2400 sq ft house with 240v allowing me to not have to go above 10awg wire for 99% of it. Even though I’m pushing 9Kw sometimes. One nice thing about a system like that is it’s usually 100% dc which can be much easier to deal with.

[@gabrielmartinez3171]

Thd efficiency at lets say your at 12v is not great the charge controller let say a 40 amp can handle 480 watts at 12v can handle 960 watts at 24v and almost 2000 watts at 48v. Amprage flowing through your batteries may be to much for the wire used if they have high demands. If you want low voltage lighting look at dc to dc converters but run your run a 24v or 48v inverter for efficiency and then a dc to dc converter for your lighting. If lighting is all they need then a 12v system with 2 golf cart batteries and a 100 to 200 watt solar array would be all that's needed.

[@Ben-ry1py]

I was wondering if adding a layer on the panels to produce electricity from the heat absorbed, peltier, by the panel would be feasible? The shadow generator looks interesting, but I'd bet it'll never be powerful enough to bother with except in very specific circumstances.

[@alexdaharp]

The Peltier idea is a current topic of research.

[@oswaldjh]

Peltier modules for a start are only low single digit efficiency. They only work when there is a temperature difference big enough to produce electricity. You would need to cool the side not attached to the solar panel. Convection on an angled roof won't be enough as the whole roof is hotter than hell in summer.

[@Ben-ry1py]

@@oswaldjh yeah, I have learned they aren't very efficient, but single digits wouldn't be bad if it was on top of the solar panel. I bet there's a better way though

[@oswaldjh]

@@Ben-ry1py The better way would be to float the solar panels in a river on a raft with the underside of the panel immersed in the flowing water. With or without Peltier modules this would help maintain the efficiency of the solar panel.

[@electronresonator8882]

you know, you can simply build solar panel in Arctic, it gets 24 hours of sunlight in summer

[@gustavdrews1127]

Utilizing capacitors during peak hours will decrease the the wear of the batteries if the capacitors are said to give back to grade during peak hours and then store it energy from say 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. for household use

[@mikeredmond1000]

I truly believe Solar is the way of the future! It should be a law that every new building should have to install enough solar to at least cover it's own power usage... and why stop there .. plus Tesla batteries to smooth out the power 🔋

[@UndecidedMF]

I have solar in a northern climate ... and it works. As for storage, it's still pricey, but there are some interesting companies like Highview Power. Cryogentic batteries could be the perfect solution for grid scale storage.

[@imnotworthyofsubs5898]

@Scratchy Ballzack "No the solution is next generation nuclear" Ow boy... One of those people. I mean reading your whole comment just shows how easy it is for people to cherry pick information and twist facts! But better luck next time kid.

[@razvanm8492]

@Scratchy Ballzack 'destroying deserts' - what does this mean?

[@Sekir80]

Our building code will require installed energy generation from the next year! The world is getting there.

[@VirtuellJo]

muhahaha Prices will drop. Think 15-20 years into the future,

[@BigBobbyK]

It would have been valuable to cover not only efficiency, but what vendors carry the lowest cost per KW also in the context of warranty and installl

[@ihtesham_emon]

This one video is equivalent to one full course in udemy! 😍

[@Anthonybrother]

Lol

[@myeflatley1150]

The chloroplasts in leafs are in a multilayer architecture. Each layer absorbs one photon from a coherent photon bundle. The photon bundle diminishes by one photon as it passes thru each layer. Chloroplasts have two bands in which they absorb: the red-orange-yellow absorbing band and the blue-violet-ultraviolet band. The green wavelength is not used. (If the green band where used, leaves would be black like some solar cells. A black world would be very difficult for us animals. Plants are nice like that.)

[@justanumber427]

Great vid! Speaking of shadows, have you noticed a reduction in your house/attic temps after installation? Has this translared into lower cooling energy requirements?

[@kvps27]

Matt - thanks so much for doing this video. I have been researching on this topic for a month and found some perspectives that I didn’t see myself

[@UndecidedMF]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kasuha]

That "shadow generator" sounds very meh to me. I mean, ANY solar panel has top surface illuminated and bottom surface in shadow. So if you make one out of two layers of this new wonder material, put one at the top and one at the bottom, will it be any better than current solar panels? Cheaper? More efficient? Anything?

[@michaelbuckers]

Of course not, you can't extract power where there isn't any.

[@justinw1765]

@@michaelbuckers But power can also be tapped from differentials, such as heat vs cold.

[@justinw1765]

@@michaelbuckers But power can also be tapped from differentials, such as heat vs cold.

[@michaelbuckers]

@@justinw1765 the only power there is from the sun, no matter how you juggle it.

[@merlinbasics9345]

I remember about 20 years ago they were already developing successfully shadow technology at a university in Mexico, which could produce AC by turning the light on and off that illuminated the panel.

[@pflernak]

9:12 Sounds reminisent of a thermoelectric generator

[@Nathouuuutheone]

I thought the exact same thing! A smart home could do cool stuff with those two technologies.

[@douniaziyati8525]

Thank you for the video. Yet at the video you talk about panels efficiency of 23% and then about the SQ theoretical limit (30%). A limit highly depends on the cell technology while for Si it's 30% for some III-V technologies it's more around 33% and for MJ this limit is much higher approaching 50%. And this limit was given in the literature for single-cell technologies, whereas the 23% is a panel efficiency which is not the same. A panel is a series connection of modules and modules are a series/parallel connection of a certain number of cells.

[@NateDeb2020]

I will be watching for this up and coming tech. The Shadow knows!

[@UndecidedMF]

Ha! The shadow knows!

[@craigcorson3036]

I recall recently reading - in the last month or two - about a new nanostructure coating for PVs that increases the efficiency to, believe it or not, 110%. I _think_ that I read it in New Atlas, which I see that you also read, but I can't find the article now. Perhaps your research skills are superior to mine, so I thought that I'd let you know about it. The article said that for every ten photons striking the cell, they got _eleven_ electrons out.

[@BernardoLameiras]

Shadows can be created artificially in any shape and size. That device, as it was presented, makes no sense.

[@autohmae]

How do you mean makes no sense ? It's just a lab test.

[@redsquirrelftw]

In a practical situation you would probably engineer the system in such a way that it can take advantage of shadows. you put one half on the south side of a building and the other half on the north side, for example. Now question is would you be better off just putting regular solar panels on both sides, since they still produce some power when there is a shadow over it. (contrary to popular belief) I think there would be really niche uses for that tech but regular panels are probably going to almost always be better.

[@BernardoLameiras]

Why can't one create the shadow in a opaque cavity directly below the side of a panel exposed to the light? I don't get it. One could use the very opaque panel used to support the side exposed to the light to create a shadow.

[@mathiaszander381]

​@@BernardoLameiras Exactly my thinking. And you have to decide if you use one large panel or many small ones. That makes a big difference dependent on the actual situation. Maybe it reconfigures itself on the fly. 😂

[@robh467]

Three dimensional...multi spectrum panels; with silver, wired in piggyback parallel circuitry.... Equals over eighty percent. The end. You're "enlightened".

[@charliedoyle7824]

I think an even bigger story in the solar pv industry is how the Chinese companies have ramped up production volumes and slashed prices. The huge price reductions of the last decade are mainly from manufacturing scale and efficiency, along with cut-throat competition and Chinese state subsidies. The panels have only slightly improved in conversion efficiency over this time, from about 15% in 2010 to usually about 19% today. Utility-scale pv installations can now sell power for 1.5 cents per kWh, compared to over 20 cents ten years ago. Conversion efficiency gets all the attention, but the giant price reductions are mainly from manufacturing. Solar electricity will be really cheap by 2050, like practically too cheap to meter. There are still a ton of ways to further reduce costs.

[@kenleach2516]

Awesome information put together, really interesting. Keep it up!

[@aidenkuhlman7870]

Great video. Solar has amazed me, since my first project I built from parts sourced at my local Radio Shack. [Yes, I"m old.] Years ago I read a bout innovations in solar windows, and there is even a company called Solar Window Technologies that just fabricated a 'film' [in South Korea that is] to put on windows that produces voltage. It made me wonder what they could do if 1) It really works. and 2) It could be put on all those skyscrapers in Houston. To me that would be much better than eliminating windows. Thanks again for this video. Really enjoy keeping up with this technology and these innovations.

[@frankmarburger6587]

Question why is there is a lifespan on solar panels oh, there is no moving parts.???

[@sebastianosterbrink9006]

AFAIK it's simple aging. Even without moving parts there is thermal expansion and stresses, reactions with air or water. Even solid stone ages.

[@clintonjones955]

as a kid (1950s) I used a mixing bowl (stainless steel) and glass magnifying glasses on a lazy susan filled with distilled water and several misting nozzles (brass) around the center layer I used silicone glue and plaster of Paris to keep the distance 'perfect' for maximum heat (I imagined 'super-heated' steam, laser-plasma (electrolysis of the 'dipole' ) polyethylene glycol nano-bubbles into a blimp football shape) later I mixed in magnesium and aluminum powder with copper and aluminum wire and connected a car battery with a small load ... ...I imagined a dome-shaped house with saltwater moat and panes of a window that changed color ...all this from the age of 12 to 18 ...then girls and sports became the important thing

[@soumadipkoley581]

Awesome video

[@UndecidedMF]

Thanks!

[@lambertd2459]

Great update, I've heard about solar panels being used to power a hydrogen fuel cells in people's houses. I'm trying to find out more, as hydrogen feels more sustainable than chemical battery tech...

[@speedrider3145]

does anyone remember in "The Flash" were they had solar panels that had an efficiency of 400% XD

[@kitsunekaze93]

oof, i really hope they meant 400% of standard cells, so around 80%

[@rubbish9231]

Efficiency of 400%? Thats means they loot more energy than photons hold. Lol

[@Loopyengineeringco]

Highly efficient solar is cool and everything, but the stock video @10:00 is great - Smart_Black_iPad.jpg LOL.

[@fergus247]

We need to get back to splitting the atom

[@zber9043]

Fusing it!

[@Ben-ry1py]

Thorium...

[@UndecidedMF]

Thorium and next-gen nuclear are viable paths: kzbin.info/www/bejne/kH3VpZJpbbGFaaM But remember, we don't have to pick just one. There's a mix to our energy generation today and there will be in the future too.

[@nolan4339]

While still behind perovskites, there is another kind that you did not touch on but seems to be making fair progress, and these are Organic Solar Cells.

[@UndecidedMF]

Have you been holding off on solar until efficiency and cost improves? And if you liked this video, be sure to check out Exploring Tesla Powerwall and home batteries - worth it? kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpXSkHd_f6-rjaM

[@raullasvegas]

With Tesla charging $1.49/watt installed. Its hard to justify not doing it. The payback for me is 8 years. You mean its going to get cheaper?!

[@myates4652]

Please tell us where you can find solar cells at 13 cents per watt. The best price that I have been able to find is 72 cents per watt for panels not installed.

[@_but_why]

@@myates4652 On aliexpress u can get down to around 0.25 pretty easily (4W/$1), i found ones that are like 0.17$ per watt (5-6w/1$), but the catch is its cells not panels, so u gonna do alot of soldering but i dont mind that, there are those "40 pieces 2.4w cells" that are super cheap and got a good money/watts ratio, another catch is they never output rated wattage unless you are deep in a sahara near equador 12:00 hours and than its a maybe.

[@UndecidedMF]

I'm actually working on videos around the manufacturing, recycling, etc. side of wind and solar. Stay tuned.

[@UndecidedMF]

I've got a video coming up on Tesla solar ... stay tuned!

[@avijitkumar3293]

We should give more focus on solar and battery technology. Our main goal should be to meet 100% of our energy requirements from solar. Because solar energy will always be here whether we want it or not.

[@FreedomAirguns]

8:57 Sci-fi level Tech? Nope! This S.E.G. as they call it is a stupidly funny name to describe the thermoelectric effect (seebeck effect, or the build up of electric potential across a temperature gradient, cit. from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_effect#Seebeck_effect). That's nothing new to be honest and there are better prototypes out there. Don't fall for the hype as they are merely trying to attract investors by portraying some old tech as new (probably because of some patents that are expiring).

[@TheGiuse45]

In any way it's bs, makes no sense that it only makes energy when it is perfectly 50% sun/shade.

[@FreedomAirguns]

@@TheGiuse45 it's called thermo-pile. That's how it works. Sorry dude, you tried, you failed. :P Chao !!! XD Comunque, ottimo inglese. Complimenti! Leggi bene il link che ho allegato al commento, capirai meglio come funziona una termo pila. La "palla" é che la spacciano per qualcosa di nuovo ma in realtà é una tecnologia vecchissima e ci sono prototipi più vecchi di quello del video ma molto più efficienti. Oi, senza rancore comunque, stavo scherzando. :P Volevo farti capire che dovresti approfondire un attimino di più before calling for BS. That's all. :) Keep it up!

[@TheGiuse45]

@@FreedomAirguns allora quello che ti dicevo è che è una stronzata che si accende solo per il 50%, basta avere una parte calda e una fredda, al 50% forse sarà più efficiente ma non toglie il fatto che a qualsiasi altra percentuale debba avere un minimo di output. In ogni caso parliamo di energie molto basse, la termodinamica non mente, in un ciclo ideale (non esistente in natura) l'efficienza massima è di 1- t/T dove t è la temp bassa e T è la temperatura alta... Puoi capire da solo che più è il delta e più è efficiente. Prendi in considerazione un pannello solare con le nuvole e capirai da solo che l'efficienza è vicino allo 0. L'inglese cmq lo studio da una decina di anni, I pity the Italians that don't know English

[@TheGiuse45]

@@FreedomAirguns in ogni caso se vai a vedere su wikipedia c'è scritto che l'energia è uguale a s*(delta)T, immagina una nuvola su un pannello fotovoltaico e la differenza di temperatura...

[@FreedomAirguns]

​@@TheGiuse45 L'efficienza delle termopile commercialmente disponibili, come i TEG (thermo electric generators) si aggira intorno all' 8%. Relativamente alla nuvola, dipende dal pannello. Panneli fotovoltici in film sottili, come "CIGS thin film", sopportano lo "shadowing" molto bene. Ti sbagli sullo "0". E ti sbagli sulla formula per l'efficienza perché non hai fatto una conversione tenendo conto di una fonte di energia in entrata/uscita e il tuo "1" non ha significato se non lo identifichi come un vettore. Come hai scritto l'equazione é totalmente errata. Inoltre hai escluso una mole enorme di variabili. Il calcolo é un po' più complesso come puoi vedere in questa ricerca dove é spiegato in dettaglio il calcolo per l'efficienza in termocoppie. www.ece.nus.edu.sg/stfpage/elelc/Publication/2010/65.%20JMEMS_10V19_2_Design,%20Fabrication,%20and%20Characterization%20of%20CMOS%20MEMS-Based%20Thermoelectric%20Power%20Generators.pdf Ti sbagli anche sul "non esiste in natura" dato che é stato dimostrato un rendimento 1 a 1 in superconduttori. Cito da wiki "Experiments have demonstrated that currents in superconducting coils can persist for years without any measurable degradation. Experimental evidence points to a current lifetime of at least 100,000 years. Theoretical estimates for the lifetime of a persistent current can exceed the estimated lifetime of the universe" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductivity#Zero_electrical_DC_resistance Inoltre, pity é un nome, non un'azione/verbo e nel contesto é anche un errore, perché rende la frase illogica, essendo "sympathetic sorrow for one suffering, distressed, or unhappy". Quindi, pure scrivendo "I feel a pity for the Italians that don't know English" , anche se grammaticalmente corretta, la frase non avrebbe molto senso, dato che significherebbe che ti fanno pietà, non pena/odio. La parola che forse cercavi è "despise", che é un verbo e sarebbe più appropriato come termine (se li odi) o "stand" se usato scrivendo "I can't stand italians that" - "non sopporto gli italiani che" o "I can't stand the sight of" - "non sopporto la vista di", tradotto volgarmente(colloquialmente) anche come "non posso vedere". www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pity Ti sbagli su molte cose. Non fare il professore a meno che tu non sia qualificato per farlo. Non siamo tutti "scemi" qua fuori. Capisco che il mondo ne sia pieno e che tu ne soffra, ma attento ai vecchi volponi! XD Peace! X)

[@zxuiji]

That last one sounds like the answer to photonic computing, it would serve as an XOR gate

[@iainmackenzieUK]

naaaah: Energy is not coming from shadows. and you know it..ya cheeky bugger (It is coming from the light intensity gradient.)

[@UndecidedMF]

Technically, yes.

[@iainmackenzieUK]

@@UndecidedMF OK

[@iareid8255]

No matter how much the efficiency increases the fundemental problems with solar panels are unchanged. The output peaks at the wrong time of day in most countries, the output is variable according to the weather and in latitudes like the U.K. give very low power in winter when demand is highest (Nothing at all at peak demand periods), it is asynchronous, that is it cannot support grid frequency, it has no inertia and reduces short circuit levels, a characteristic that is needed for the correct operation of grid protective devices. these three characteristics are needed for stable grid operation and solar lacks all thre, as indeed, does wind. Like all renewables it also needs reliable back up plants to keep the lights on.

[@thomasaquinas5262]

There used to be solar water heaters in use in the deep South. Why we don't have mandated solar roofs below the Mason-Dixon line is bewildering to me, especially now with the available battery backup that can save excess daytime power for night usage...

[@movax20h]

Multijunction cells are interesting, but for long they will be only used in most space and weight constrained applications, like satellites, some electric planes, maybe boats. In most other applications the most important metric is not efficiency but $/W. Sure installations costs do scale with the size (more land area, more support structures, more cabling, more soft costs and maintance), but in most cases it doesn't matter.

[@stevescholey3479]

Very interesting, some great eye openers. Just a point for the planet, we need to be sure we do not pollute our planet after 20+ years of solar planet use.The used plastics and chemicals have to go somewhere. Hopefully recycling/waste is taken into account when developing this improved and interesting technology.

[@InssiAjaton]

Nice to see updates of the efficiency figures. I suggested the multilayer principle in late 1976 or early 1977. But I was working at a paper mill at that time and of course there was no interest (or frankly no applicable resources) to even try to patent the idea.. Well, if I would have been able to get a patent, I know that it would have expired years before anybody made any progress on the multilayer structures. I knew that there would be considerable compatibility issues between materials like silicon and gallium arsenide. And even more so if the other part needed to be paper. Best luck to those who continue to make the present progress!

[@MrBleulauneable]

Yeah and it turns out it was also already patented even before you "suggested" the idea patents.google.com/patent/US3990101A/en .... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@InssiAjaton]

@@MrBleulauneable Thanks! In those days patent searches were not easy or commonplace. Oh, so much for that...

[@Tuckerclan]

Why is the limit of efficiency so low? I would have thought it was around 50% by now headed higher. I must not understand the process enough. Thanks for another great video. Stay safe.

[@UndecidedMF]

It's like Moore's Law with computer processing. We've bumped up against that too and are finding creative ways around it (like multi-core processors). Physics isn't always our friend.

[@Justwantahover]

The shadow device could be used on solar cells under wind turbines where the blade shadows pass constantly (when there is wind).

[@waynefilkins8394]

that last one just sounds like thermoelectric generators / peltier sensors or w/e they are called. The difference in heat from each side produces voltage. Sounds like they just separated a peltier and put it side by side, so when light is on one side and shade on the other it would generate electricity.

[@johnwallace3988]

Very interesting. I have some solar panels, But I am very careful with attachments with wires to storage batteries as a fire hazard.

[@ManyHeavens42]

This is what I've been talking about we must combine not only frequency but vibration ! Meaning different band Frequency ,I just want to know why somebody didn't somebody think of this before Now ? light is a Wave ! Hello ,Hello , Again! Good job don't stop Shining

[@jean-baptistefox2819]

The bigest drawback with those muti materials, is for recycling. The more we have in a tiny proportion the harder it gets to recycling it. Sometimes near impossible.

[@garethdesborough7960]

Great info, Matt. If 30% can be achieved at a reasonable cost then most homes could cover the majority of their power requirements from their available roof area, assuming they’re not overly shaded. Exciting! And the potential for electric vehicle roofs to provide a useful top-up to their battery packs at a reasonable cost has to follow closely to that, wouldn’t you say?

[@UndecidedMF]

With the state of current panels, vehicle panels wouldn't be able to provide enough to cover daily driving. BUT ... in time perhaps. Elon has said that the panel option they're going to offer with the Cybertruck should be able to provide about 15-20 miles of range a day. That's not insignificant ... that's kind of awesome.

[@garethdesborough7960]

It definitely is! Man, I wish we could order a Cybertruck here in the UK. Hurry up with Giga Berlin I say..!

[@tomkelly8827]

I think your title would be more accurate if you said solar PV efficiency. Heat is the other 70% so by adding a water jacket to any solar PV panel will increase its output manyfold. There was a Swiss company that was making these a few years ago. by water jacketing the panels and removing the excess heat, the PV part of the panels were able to stay at their maximum efficiency temperature range more often then standard PV panels.

[@kamaracso]

What about the photovoltaic paint. I hear that it's not very efficient but you can paint the whole building with that. So more area to cover.

[@UndecidedMF]

It may not be as efficient, but there’s a lot of interesting advancements that could be applied to walls, windows, etc. it really comes down to costs.

[@PremiumElectric]

Screw sponsors and embedded ads!!!! I pay KZbin premium for NO ADS!!!! KZbin needs to filter, or flag, or skip ALL ads!

[@UndecidedMF]

Sorry about that, but it's the best way to earn a living creating these videos for everyone to enjoy.

[@basspig]

No ads here. No payola. Brave browser.

[@gadget5129]

Shadow Jack would have been so proud. Not sure there are enough Zelazny fans left to actually get that reference.

[@michaelmitchell4686]

Yes there are...

[@vennic]

It would be good to pair this with the progression of energy saving technology that will help realize the ubiquitous use of renewable energy sources (led bulbs, heat pumps, improving building efficiency, etc)

[@PeterSedesse]

The really good part of all this is the 25 year lifespan of solar panels, so even if you have limited efficiency improvements or cost reductions, just by continuing to produce what we have today will mean the percentage of energy produced by solar is going to increase rapidly. These exponential gains will continue until current solar users need to replace their panels in 25 years.

[@DwainDwight]

We had solar panels installed on our roof in Perth (Western Australia) in circa 1981. I am sure with multi layer applications we will hit commercially available close to 50% efficiency panels in 20 years or so.

[@newguy6935]

Wow. This video is one of the best wrapups of the various solar cell technologies.

[@mohammedftouni6209]

It is important to understand the Shockley-Queisser limit is not for a specific material. This limit is for the most optimum junction (a material with the perfect bandgap). Any other single-junction made of a material with a higher or lower bandgap has a less theoretical maximum efficiency. If the bandgap is higher than the optimum value, then the cell will generate higher voltage but it will be harder for photons to excite electrons and give them the energy needed to overcome the bandgap energy barrier. In other words higher voltage but less current and overall less output power. On the other hand, a single junction made of a material with lower bandgap energy would generate more current because now more photons have enough energy to excite electrons. However, it would generate less voltage; because any electron excited to high energy in the conduction band will lose some of its energy to settle lower energy just above the edge of the bandgap. And the energy lost as a phonon (vibration and heat). This settling down happens much faster than the process of extracting the electrons out of the cell. So this time we have less voltage, higher current but still less output power. So to overcome the maximum theoretical limit we have to use several junctions. So perovskites are not the solution. but tandems are the solution. whether silicon tandems or perovskites tandems or silicon-perovskites tandems.

[@JRCarReviews]

Make a video about Nikola Tesla idea of harvesting free energy from atmosphere and distributing it all over world for free wirelessly!!! Corporations hate the idea of society becoming energy independent.

[@dmay3391]

How much to you estimate it will cost to make a free kWh from the atmosphere?

[@Nathouuuutheone]

If the shadow tech is any better than current solar, you can just have a mechanical shade that adjusts to keep the 50% covering and you've got a product