It’s called "Radiative Cooling." And it sounds much like the
old saying, “I’m rubber, you’re glue, heat bounces of me and sticks to you.” Every
time you stroll outside you emit energy into the universe: Heat from the top of
your head radiates into space as infrared light.
Now three Stanford engineers have developed a technology
that improves on solar panel performance by exploiting this basic phenomenon.
Their invention shunts away the heat generated by a solar cell under sunlight
and cools it in a way that allows it to convert more photons into electricity.
"Solar arrays must face the sun to function, even
though that heat is detrimental to efficiency," Fan said. "Our
thermal overlay allows sunlight to pass through, preserving or even enhancing
sunlight absorption, but it also cools the cell by radiating the heat out and
improving the cell efficiency."
This new technology released on September 21st of
2015 has very clear benefits in the fight against climate change. If this tech
can be integrated into real gains in efficiency solar cells will become an even
more cost effective way to produce power. This will potentially make it easier
for industrialized nations and the global community to make the switch from
fossil fuels to renewable energy.
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