More good news is coming from the solar industry! Even with the ongoing scrutiny and criticism of solar power, technology continues to improve, financing is more accessible, and "the price of solar energy-generated electricity, calculated by a legitimate levelized cost of energy (LCOE) method, is now competitive in many regions with the price of electricity generated by conventional sources." What does that mean? Solar, in many regions, is just as cheap, or in some locations cheaper, than the electricity you get from the grid! A main reason for this big drop in pricing is due in large part to overly-conservative LCOE calculations that neglected the long life-span of PV panels, and the low to almost non-existent maintenance costs. Compared to the costs of maintaining a power plant, these low costs seem even more obvious. Finally, this study does NOT include any of the cost benefits associated with cleaner energy when compared to coal or natural gas. If those values were included, solar pricing could drop below grid parity. You can find the full article
here, and the full study with data
here.
Another story from the solar industry could prove just as beneficial to the ongoing quest for renewable energy sources. Xiaoyang Zhu, a chemist at The University of Texas at Austin, may have discovered a way to improve the efficiency of solar panels by 50% to 100%! You can read the full article
here at Joe Romm's blog
Climate Progress. Basically, "the maximum theoretical efficiency of the silicon solar cell in use today is approximately 31 percent, because much of the sun’s energy hitting the cell is too high to be turned into usable electricity. That energy, in the form of “hot electrons,” is instead lost as heat. Capturing hot electrons could potentially increase the efficiency of solar-to-electric power conversion to as high as 66 percent." The article explains the process in more detail which is a little to technical for me to try and explain.
For the architectural world, this could me more buildings covered in PV installations. It will be important for architects to design new buildings with the proper solar orientation, in order to for the clients to take advantage of solar power, while providing a proper installation surface and making the building aesthetically pleasing. If panel efficiency improved by 100%, smaller arrays could be possible, but would still need a properly oriented surface. The most exciting prospect is for buildings to be ZNE or Zero Net Energy. If panel efficiency doubled, proper solar orientation utilized and mechanical systems are made smaller by use of natural ventilation and passive solar heating, buildings could actually put energy back into the grid. A huge and very exciting prospect for everyone in the building industry! We here at Venture Architecture cannot wait to get our hands on such a project!
Follow the GreenTech industry here:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/
Follow Joe Romm's blog Climate Progress at
www.thinkprogress.org/romm/issue
* Author's note: Romm's blog can be very political at times. Please note that we here at Venture Architecture may not share the same political views as the blog. Nevertheless, Romm's blog provides a lot of great information on renewable energy and the overall climate.
-Will Campbell
