Solar Cells Made From Black Silicon

Handy. All that energy lost to "hot asphalt" after the sun goes down, can now be successfully harvested as it re-radiates toward the night sky! One more source of energy that currently gets lost to our uses.

One question does come to mind, though, and it's one we probably all ought to consider for EVERY "renewable" energy source.

Given that "energy is neither created or destroyed" (the "Conservation of Energy" Law), what are we taking that energy FROM (the current "down-stream consumer", whether its a person or group of people, or a process, natural or otherwise) and how badly will taking it from there throw off something else we need?

I'm not a nay-saying Luddite, trying to say we can't do anything to improve our lot for fear of damaging the fragile ecosystem. I think the world is an energy engine of far greater size, complexity, and capacity, than we even dream, and that we are a puny impinging force in the overall scheme of things.

But I do think we ought to at least consider, theorize about, and document our thinking on these things, so that we can have at least a somewhat "heads-up" view on what affects changes we make will have.

All that said, I'd be far more likely to spend the money on PV systems if I could put together both visible light and IR collection in one system, and harvest the available energy far into the night. Anywhere that gets a lot of impinging energy, even if that energy is via the most far-fetched conversion (absorbed UV CAN cause localized heating of some substances, though I fail to think of any other than my bald spot at present) is essentially "free power" in that we didn't have to produce it by some form of conversion to get it there in the first place. In this case, the sun did it for us. We just have to figure out how to economically collect and reconvert it. And this technology seems to allow us to tap a source that currently is "wasted" (to us, that is) through it's entire cycle.

"Solar cells convert three-quarters of the energy contained in the Sun's spectrum into electricity - yet the infrared spectrum is entirely lost in standard solar cells. In contrast, black silicon solar cells are specifically designed to absorb this part of the Sun's spectrum - and researchers have recently succeeded in doubling their overall efficiency."

You have to love anything that can double its efficiency by capturing 25% more energy. :)

You have to love anything that can double its efficiency by capturing 25% more energy. :)
My kinda math!!!