An alternative solar cell

[begreen]

New refinements in the Grätzel cell look promising. If successful they will bring down the costs of solar electrical production and the environmental impact of solar cell production.

http://cleantechnica.com/2012/05/24/new-inexpensive-environmentally-friendly-solar-cell/

 

[jimbom]

Promising on the cell front. Good on them. I would dearly love to see advances in battery energy density and energy/cost.

 

[Jags]

Awesome. I have so much roof top space that I am drooling at the advancements of cheap solar cells.

 

[woodgeek]

The Grätzel's are cool tech, but the lifetimes in (laboratory simulated) service have been quite short.

 

[fossil]

The other day I was reading an article about some rooftop solar panel installations going in, and there were a few "action shot" pics of the installers handing the panels up and positioning them/permanently fastening them down onto the roof of somebody's house. Well, that got me to thinking, because this somebody's house had a typical asphalt composition shingle roof on it...the kind that's expected service life is 15-30 years. No telling how long since it was installed. What happens when the roof needs to be replaced?

 

[begreen]

The Grätzel's are cool tech, but the lifetimes in (laboratory simulated) service have been quite short.

I was wondering what the lifetime would be with a dye based system. This will have to be worked out in order to be viable in the market.

 

[woodgeek]

Indeed...its the dye sensitizers that essentially 'fade in the sun', shutting the cell down.

 

[begreen]

Coming from the photo industry that was my first thought when I saw dyes.

 

[btuser]

What happens when the roof needs to be replaced?

Exactly what you think has to happen. Because sun is the real killer for the roofs I'm sure it will extend the life of the shingles under the panels, but everywhere else will be the same.

Depending on the installation I bet you could put another layer over the exposed parts of the roof, and just kinda shingle around the panels. Something to think about if you can get another 10 years out of it vs having to remove/replace the panels. I'm sure as roofers see more and more of these things they'll get good at removal/re installation.