The future is always difficult to predict. By mapping existing trends in energy use, the solar energy sector, and also scientific study right into the future, we can draw back the curtain a little bit to take a glimpse at what solar power may look like in 2040.
You may not recognize photovoltaic panels in 20 years!
The photovoltaic panel of tomorrow may look really different from the ones we use today. Scientists at Michigan State University have created transparent photovoltaic panels that could be related to nearly anything. The researchers have actually recommended that their clear photovoltaic panels might be fastened to automobiles, structures, home windows, and also smartphones.
While solar energy accounts for ~2% of all U.S. electrical power generation today, if these clear solar panels were set up on every glass surface in the country—some five to seven billion square meters— they could produce up to 60 percent of America’s electrical power.
Solar Efficiency is Improving
At only five percent efficiency, the panels are far less efficient than traditional solar panels, which operate with a typical efficiency rate of around 15 percent. But this modern technology is still in its infancy and will enhance in the coming decades.
An additional slar item that will move the industry far from the existing routines of blue and also black panels is the solar shingle. Seen from the ground below, solar roof shingles resemble normal roof covering tiles. Each solar tile has a solar cell with series linking capability. These roof shingles, when combined, can create as much energy as a solar panel setup of equal dimension.
Big-name companies like Solar City (a Tesla subsidiary) and Dow have heavily invested in the solar shingle market in hopes of bringing solar energy to people who may be wary of setting up visually distasteful and cumbersome photovoltaic panels on their roof coverings. At the innovation forefront, clear photovoltaic panels and solar shingles can bring solar power further into the mainstream.
Investment in the Future of Solar
Big-name companies like Solar City (a Tesla subsidiary) and Dow have heavily invested in the solar shingle market in hopes of bringing solar energy to people who may be wary of setting up visually distasteful and cumbersome photovoltaic panels on their roof coverings. At the innovation forefront, clear photovoltaic panels and solar shingles can bring solar power further into the mainstream.
Rare Earth Shortage Could Impact Solar Supply
The materials that comprise solar panel production will also change. Manufacturers of cellular phones, laptop computers, electric cars, and also cordless power devices all count on the same constellation of rare earth components that photovoltaic panel makers do. Worldwide stores of these materials continue to dwindle, and researchers increasingly spur on companies that generate high-tech gizmos to find replacements (like iron pyrite or zinc) and boost their steel recycling as well as recuperation systems. Some companies have reacted proactively: Apple, for instance, recuperated over a ton of gold from damaged and unrepairable iPhones, iPads, and also various other products it gathered in 2015.