Chemical engineers at Oregon State University (OSU) have invented a new way to deposit "nanostructure films" on a variety of surfaces. The nanostructure film reduces the amount of light that is reflected off the glass surface.
For solar panels, this means that more of the sun's light reaches the surface of the panels (usually either silicon or copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS)) and doesn't just bounce back into space, so more photons can be captured and turned into clean electricity.
There are already other types of films that do this, but this new nano-film should be able to do it better, for less money, and in a way that is easy to apply to the surfaces (not expensive process that requires big equipment).
This nanostructure-film can be applied on top of whatever technology you already have, so it doesn't matter too much if your solar panel is based on monocrystalline silicon cells, or polycrystalline cells, or thin films, etc. It could also be applied to the lenses of concentrating solar power setups. As efficiencies keep crawling up, it signals good times for solar energy.
Compare this with stumbling 'clean coal' technology. A Harvard Universtity study has said that electricity costs could double for first-generation CCS plants even as costs for renewables go down 10 percent every decade.
All this calls for more investment in R&D in renewable technology. Right?
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