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Flexible Solar -- Awesome New Technology

By Ben Mester

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Published: 30Nov2009
Word count: 688
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I recently read an article on flexible solar panels and cells, and I couldn't believe some of the advancements being made in new technology. There's definitely a huge push these days toward green, sustainable, renewable energy. Solar energy is becoming an exciting new development with a huge amount of personal application. The new photovoltaic solar panels coming out of the factories are ultra thin and light, and able to be rolled up and packed away, as opposed to the traditional silicon solar panels, which have always been heavy, bulky, and rigid. These new flexible sheets have a nearly innumerable amount of applications. Solar panels are becoming portable, meaning that a person could charge any number of electronic devices on the go without having to plug into the grid, which is a major plus for green, sustainable energy enthusiasts.

But there are added benefits. Amorphous, meaning shapeless, silicon thin-film solar cells can be manufactured at a cheaper rate than conventional crystalline cells primarily because they use less material than the traditional cells. Newer cells are only 1 micrometer thick. Older crystalline solar cells generally came in 150-to-200-micrometer-thick slices. Not only that, but solar cells are becoming more and more efficient everyday. The electric charge and voltage generated by the newest systems are many times more powerful than the old. The most modern cells, called triple junction cells are being mad with three different materials--amorphous silicon, amorphous silicon germanium, and nanocrystalline silicon. This gives maximum energy absorption because each of these materials is tuned to capture the energy in different parts of the solar spectrum. That kind of technology is brand new. Not only that, but it's also hitting the scene at a time when solar panels are becoming lightweight, portable, and affordable. Those three factors are all coming together to create a technology that I personally believe will be the next big thing in the green energy movement. The only thing I can think of that could top it would be some kind of fold-up, portable wind energy device, which I can't imagine coming out anytime in the near future. But that would be quite the site to see :)

With this newest advancement in flexible solar panels, I expect solar energy to hit a new peak. With the green movement now in full swing and people more and more wanting to minimize their effect on the environment, I have a feeling that the new designs and technologies are going to revolutionize our thinking. It isn't even that solar energy production is efficient. It's the fact that people are wanting to take the welfare of the environment into their own hands. Knowing that you can buy a backpack for instance, that will generate enough electricity to charge your Ipod and your cell phone, is something that's never been heard of before. In my opinion, the future is going to be motivated by sustainability and self-sufficiency. And these are just the most recent developments. We're making newer, more cost effective, smaller sizes everyday! Current research and science are exploding around the idea of solar energy, and the advancements are really cool to read about.

But that's not all. There's just something that's almost exciting about generating your own power. It's like growing food in your own garden. Even powering your own lighting can be exhilarating. I remember the first time I used a hand cranked flashlight. There was just something almost magical knowing that hand powered energy was making enough of a charge to power the battery. I mean, when could a person ever go to a little grassy park and break out a laptop while lying in a field. It's true that with the latest advancements in lithium ion batteries, laptops can hold up to 8 hours of a charge, but most batteries have a limited shelf life and begin to lose efficiency very quickly. I'm not sure what the future is going to bring. But I'm very excited about the newest wave of flexible solar panels just hitting the market. I think we're going to start seeing a lot more of this kind of technology being applied for everyday use.

Thanks for checking out this article about flexible solar panels. For more info about advancements in solar technology, check out some of my other work.

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