Perovskite solar technology shows quick energy returns (payback could be as fast as 2-3 months)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.anl.gov/articles/perovskite-solar-technology-shows-quick-energy-returns

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Perovskite solar technology shows quick energy returns[/font]

By Payal Marathe • July 17, 2015

[font size=3]Solar panels are an investment—not only in terms of money, but also energy. It takes energy to mine, process and purify raw materials, and then to manufacture and install the final product.

Silicon-based panels, which dominate the market for solar power, usually need about two years to return this energy investment. But for technology made with perovskites—a class of materials causing quite a buzz in the solar research community—the energy payback time could be as quick as two to three months.

By this metric, perovskite modules are better than any solar technology that is commercially available today.

These are the findings of a study by scientists at Northwestern University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. The study took a broad perspective in evaluating solar technology: In what’s called a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment, scientists traced a product from the mining of its raw materials until its retirement in a landfill. They determined the ecological impacts of making a solar panel and calculated how long it would take to recover the energy invested.

…[/font][/font]

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Complete gamechanger if true.

Crossing my fingers. We need cheap, ubiquitous solar.

[6chars]

2. looks credible, but not without challenges

to commercialization. solar will still have the challenges of needing a lot of land, being intermittent, and being less effective in some climates. also gas is cheap for now and there's no carbon tax. but it does seem like an improvement that, if things work out, can fill some of the need efficiently. maybe there's more progress where that came from.

[pscot]

3. Let's hope the Chinese

have already stolen this.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

4. If they have, more power to them.

If it wasn't simply shared, as much info in academia is. we need this sort of thing everywhere, as fast as possible. Keeping it held back to make some specific company more money would be a criminal waste of opportunity to help lessen the problems of climate change sooner.