Honda to Manufacture Solar Cells

Non-silicon based? Does that mean it will be the polymer types that are only 5% efficient?

Could be. Al the article says is that the process consumes half as much energy and generates 50 percent less carbon dioxide during production when compared with conventional solar cells made from silicon. I'm hard pressed to believe they'd want to process inefficient cells, but there's no discussion of output at all...

A good friend has gotten involved in this game, and it looks like they'll be producing cells in the 7% efficiency range. Pretty old-school range to be sure, but their process lets them create large areas at low expense. The combination appears to be something the marketplace will buy. Cover the state of Arizona, hook up to the grid, and we're off to the races! (Uh, in hydrolysis-based hydrogen-fueled cars I guess...)

They have to get the cost down before photo cells can take off. It costs something like $6000 per kw to install a photovoltaic system. On average Electricity costs have risen to around $.09/kwh. Assuming the industry average of an equivalent full output of 5 hours/day, a 1 kw solar cell will produce about $180/yr worth of electricity a year, taking over 30 years for a simple payback. Given that the life expectancy of a solar cell is 20 years, it's a problem.

This is a good thing. This will help to make a solar array for the common man more possible, so that we may get away from the herion like addiction to oil.