Graphene Delivers Even More

http://www.solarplaza.com/article/1975-2013-all-solar-efficiency-records-in-one-char

http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/feature_detail.cfm/feature_id=2055

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/Boeing-Subsidiary-Spectrolab-Sets-New-Solar-Cell-Efficiency-World-Record

This is all great news for people who make a living in re$earch.

I want to know when someone will be paying ME to turn on the lights, because energy is so over-abundant that if we don't use it the world will explode.

And along those noble lines, when will Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland be giving corn away?

Seriously, we keep hearing about new breakthroughs, but when will someone drive a stake into the ground and say "let's take this to market"?

World Record X-Series Solar Panels Now For Sale ....

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/04/08/world-record-x-series-solar-panels-no-for-sale/

http://us.sunpower.com/homes/

The market is saturated with very high quality PV panels. From CIGS, Mono/Poly silicon, hybrids like Sanyo's HIT, or Sunpower, it all works because of application and price. Breakthrough in efficiency is relatively meaningless, unless price is not important, say, for a satelite or an arctic research center. If you can produce a more efficient cell for less $, or if you can monetize the value you get from reduced size, then efficiency of the cell is very important, but it is simply not for the vast majority of applications, which involve making power for the least amount of capital. These forums are full of rhetoric, re the holy grail of efficiency. It very simply means the panels can be smaller, which is not very relevant to $ per annual KWH. BTW, you could make a far more relevant argument for deployment logistics. People put them in placres that will get sporadic shade, or have sub optimal orientation, or tilt, adversely affecting "efficency", but do not seem as concerned. We just installed Sunpower panels in such a place. The customer is always right. This is not a sales board, fortunately.

Can't say that I agree with your logic.

A high "quality" panel that is not efficient is worthless.

Who said anything about not efficient? This thread is about improving efficiency. I'm guessing you drive an IC vehicle. Not efficient, but very useful, and not worthless. Have you any experience in this field, or are you just rambling?

Based on your previous comment, experience is apparently not required here.

"Breakthrough in efficiency is relatively meaningless", is that what you really intended to convey?

If costs matter, efficiency is part of the equation, is what I meant to convey. More efficient is not neccessarily better. R and D to reduce costs while increasing cell efficiency can be a good thing, however, the CIGS PV technology is less efficient in conversion (the graphene article focus) but cheaper to manufacture, thereby increasing the usefulness of the product. As I stated, the physical size is larger, so there are some corresonding increases in footprint, racking, conductors, which can increase cost. It's not a sience fair, it's about the cost of the KWH. There are numerous other CIGS advantages, like performance/ambient temp curves, etc., but I'm just trying to make the point that efficient PV cells are not always practical.

I'll pay you to turn turn off the lights, and the computer. What's it going to take?

Too cheap to meter??? That's the bailiwick of nuclear....at least it was until the regulations drove the price so high it became a political game with do-gooder environmentalists....Now that we have the designs that could eliminate much of the risk the regulations were meant to mitigate, we can't afford to build them....The only industry that has some chance of saving us poor mortals from global warming, has been hamstrung by the very group that claims it's a serious threat to be dealt with....So the aim of environmentalism becomes clear,,,,to sentence the population to death while tying their hands behind the back so they can't save themselves and preaching them to death from boredom with the self-righteous platitudes of self-sacrifice....Enough already!