Solar power
While
solar
power is extremely efficient in the sense that it does not require
the depletion of any natural resources and is renewable, it is not as
efficient as it can be. How so? The majority of silicon solar panels
boast only about 15 percent efficiency, depending on the model –
they do not convert all of the sun’s light into energy.
Because of this seemingly low efficiency of solar power, much solar
technology is devoted to creating more efficient cells, ones that capture
and use light to a better advantage. Technology is developing to capture
photons that pass right through and/or are reflected by solar cells.
This new technology will capture photons of different wavelength of
light. No reflected light is converted into solar power.
Silicon absorbs blue light very easily, but not infrared or red light.
A silicon solar cell has electrons that do not “get excited”
(and thereby produce electricity) by infrared light: infrared light
does not knock the electrons out of place.
Solar power will be greatly improved as technology advances and more
wavelengths of the light spectrum can be absorbed and therefore used
by solar panels. If more light is absorbed, then more electricity can
be produced by a smaller panel, the efficiency will rise, and the costs
of solar power will greatly drop.