With the evident effects of environmental neglect, energy all over the world is becoming more and more depleted. With energy sources becoming scarce, it generally results to a stiff competition to obtain the limited sources for energy resulting to high power charges. There are several sources of energy, and some of them are even natural resources such as wind, solar, and hydro. But even if the sources of energy are natural resources and should be delivered to the people at a lower cost, still, power costs are high due to expenses incurred while generating electricity.
For several years now, scientists and researches has been looking at other means to obtain the following:
- minimize generation costs of energy
- provide energy to the people without causing any damages to the environment
- generate renewable and recyclable energy resources
- provide energy and electricity with the least possible charges
- deliver electricity and energy to the public at the lowest possible cost
Achieving These Goals Using Nanotechnology Solar Panel
Nanotechnology aims to build important things with the use of tiny machines or by producing highly advanced, essential, and quality products using tools and techniques provided by nanotechnology.
Part of the researches being conducted is to come up with a solar panel that would accurately capture solar energy that can be utilized at home, in the office, and even in large-scale industrial areas. Although there are already solar panels available in the market today, these solar panels that are usually made of silicone panels only capture 67.4% light incident or solar energy emitted by the sun. Whereas, with nanotechnology, industrial and electrical manufacturers can now produce a coating for solar panels using nanorods that can capture 96.7 % light incident.
Nanorods used in nanotechnology solar panel looks like multi-layer funnels designed to capture light incident. The first layer absorbs the light that hits the panel at wide outer angles and turns it to a slightly narrower angle. The succeeding layers become narrower, like they are passing the light to the next layer even further as it funnels the light till it reaches the active region of the panel at a 90° angle. This process makes the solar panel securely capture the sun’s energy without having to rotate with the sun.
Benefits of Nanotechnology Solar Panel
Installing a nanorod on your solar panel can give out a lot of benefits not just for your personal advantages but to the whole of mankind. Some of these benefits include:
Lower solar power cost. The usual silicone solar panels available in the market today are placed at a single angle and can therefore absorb and generate lesser energy making the cost of solar power high. Nanotechnology solar power is designed to absorb the sunlight from any angle thus making generating more energy and making it available at a lesser cost.
Environment friendly. By patronizing renewable sources of energy such as energy coming from the sun, you would help in saving the world in your own little way. Solar power is also proven safe and does not emit hazardous waste.
Generating energy in a clean and green manner is, of course, just one element of a low carbon economy. Another element is the way in which energy is used and finding ways to reduce waste. In this area, home insulation is a very important factor – just think of how many poorly insulted homes there are in the world! A technology being developed to assist with insulating buildings use formaldehyde. The current tests are developing ways to coat ordinary doors and surfaces with the chemical to trap more air in, reducing heat transfer. This will be another breakthrough of the future.