Increasing Efficiency of Solar Panels

Lehigh University researchers have created a revolutionary solar cell material with up to 190% external quantum efficiency, pushing beyond conventional efficiency limits and showing great promise for enhancing future solar energy systems. Further development is required for practical application, supported by a U.S. Department of Energy grant.




It shows great potential for advancing the development of highly efficient next-generation solar cells, which are vital for meeting global energy demands.

A team from Lehigh University has created a material that could significantly enhance the efficiency of solar panels.

A prototype using the material as the active layer in a solar cell exhibits an average photovoltaic absorption of 80%, a high generation rate of photoexcited carriers, and an external quantum efficiency (EQE) up to an unprecedented 190%—a measure that far exceeds the theoretical Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit for silicon-based materials and pushes the field of quantum materials for photovoltaics to new heights.     READ MORE...

High Gas Prices

The Democrats want to push all Americans and those who live within her borders, towards electric vehicles since the price of gasoline has doubled since Biden has been our President.  

First of all, the USA is not fully prepared to go 100% EV because it would take several years for our companies to manufacture them. 

 Second, there are not enough charging stations to accommodate all Americans to charge their vehicles and it would also take several years to build those stations

Third, the electric grid for the USA is not powerful enough to support that many EVs plus provide power to all the homes and businesses, and other places that needed electricity to operate.  

Fourth, the components to build electric vehicles come from overseas and there is simply not enough supply for all the EVs we need, especially since the Democrats are trying to push solar panels as well.  

Fifth, until the cost of purchasing an EV becomes affordable, the average American who is making $50,000 a year, is not going to be able to afford those cars.

Therefore, most Americans will simply keep their gasoline cars and pay the high price for gasoline but in order to make it work for them, they will simply drive less...  not only will their drive less, but they will also spend less money on other items like clothes, restaurants, and vacations because they are spending so much for gasoline.

When Americans start doing this, finding alternative sources because the Democrats have decided they want to end fossil fuel TODAY...  the reduction of spending will have the opposite effect that the stimulus money had on the economy...  and, the USA will plunge into a recession.

What is really going to be interesting is when we are in this recession, how are we going to be able to provide resources to all those illegal immigrants that we allowed into the country for the last two years?  These illegals will need:

• Food
• Housing
• Education
• Clothes
• Medical

And, I would be willing to bet that they damn sure don't have the money to buy an EV and make the Democrats happy.

As the Democrats screw up our economy because of their desire to go GREEN...  other countries, like our ENEMIES, for instance, are not going GREEN and that will enable those economies to grow and prosper while our economy is shrinking...  These countries are:

• China
• Russia
• India
• Pakistan
• Middle East (all countries)
• North Korea

I am confident that our enemies will be sympathetic concerning what the Democrats are trying to do with our country...

Do you know how many countries out there want the USA to fail because we tried to force them to live like us???

Solar Emergy

A team of engineers at Stanford University have developed a solar cell that can generate some electricity at night.
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The research comes at a moment when the number of solar jobs and residential installations are rising.

While standard solar panels can provide electricity during the day, this device can serve as a "continuous renewable power source for both day- and nighttime," according to the study published this week in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

The device incorporates a thermoelectric generator, which can pull electricity from the small difference in temperature between the ambient air and the solar cell itself.

"Our approach can provide nighttime standby lighting and power in off-grid and mini-grid applications, where [solar] cell installations are gaining popularity," the study said.

Mini-grid applications refer to independent electricity networks. These can be used when a population is too small or too far away to extend the grid.

It wasn't until recently that solar energy declined in price and became much more affordable. Some companies have bought into the program, and California has even incentivized the shift to solar.  READ MORE...

Electric Propulsion System

The IX-6315 "Dawn" Electric Propulsion System is a tiny-sized engine which runs on electricity and xenon gas propellant. It's modeled after the real-world Hall effect thruster.

This engine has a phenomenal fuel efficiency (4200 s Isp), but very low thrust and requires a substantial amount of electricity to operate. Xenon gas is provided by xenon containers like the PB-X50R Xenon Container, PB-X150 Xenon Container or PB-X750 Xenon Container. Electricity can be obtained using solar panels, radioisotope batteries (RTGs), and fuel cells. 

Solar panels are recommended in this case, however RTGs are very efficient when traveling to far distances such as Jool and Eeloo. The amount of electricity needed to keep one ion engine running at full thrust is roughly equivalent to half the output of one Gigantor XL Solar Array (however one array will power two engines only near peak sun exposure around Kerbin), 6 Fuel Cells, 12 PB-NUK Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, or 25 OX-STAT Photovoltaic Panels at peak outcdput. 

When pairing with solar panels, it is highly recommended to bring more than it needs (slightly less than 9 Ec/s). Not all panels are at peak output during operations, and maximum available power falls of with the square of the distance from the star.

Batteries can be used to store the electricity since there may be times the solar panels will be blocked from the Sun by objects or the dark side of celestial bodies. For extended burns in the darkness the fuel cells happen to be a good choice. When the power is provided by the fuel cells the majority of the mass flow (about 69.2%) is liquid fuel and oxidizer used by the fuel cell. 

Thus the ion engine powered by the fuel cell may be seen as having much more modest but still impressive effective Isp of 1293 sec. However if the burn doesn't take more than a couple of hours the stack of RTGs providing the same amount of power (and thus thrust) tend to be heavier than the fuel cell array and its fuel tank. The RTGs should be reserved for very long low-thrust burns in the deep space.  READ MORE...