Posted on 02/10/2014 2:04:46 PM PST by grundle
The solar energy industry is still in the process of exploring how to make photovoltaic panels more efficient and less intrusive, and researchers at Stanford have already pushed forward with peel-and-stick solar panels. However, for high power usage the devices must be large and in direct contact with the sun at all times, meaning they need to track its position in the sky using sensors and equipment that are expensive and susceptible to bad weather. Currently seeking funding through Indiegogo, Rawlemon is an alternative in the shape of an oddly beautiful eyeball-shaped lens, that uses refraction to concentrate sunlight with minimal need for tracking.
Designed by German architect Andre Broessel, the invention uses a large glass sphere lens, which collects diffuse light from multiple angles. The shape of the lens focuses this light into a fine beam much like a magnifying glass that can deliver a greater amount of sunlight around 70 percent more than traditional photovoltaic panels can collect on their own, even when they track the sun. The system enables Broessel to reduce the size of the solar panel to around one percent of the typical PV device. At the same time, the Rawlemon product is arguably much more aesthetically pleasing than the gray, oblong panels currently in use.
(Excerpt) Read more at smallbusiness.yahoo.com ...
smoke and mirrors
Which puts solar at around 30% capacity factor ceiling.
Wind can be higher, but effective solar can coincide with SW peak air-conditioning load.
Neither is economical if you want your money back in less than 10 years.
That was also the sentence that caught my eyes first.
Either the engineers didn’t explain it clearly, or the writer of this article misunderstood something.
Still gonna have to clean pidgeon crap off it...
Perhaps it could be filled with liquid.
The real issue is that it isn't a concentrator...rather, it's a redirector, much like a corner reflector. That means that you are substituting the spheres for the tracking control to follow the sun. It's a fixed-geometry trade-off.
>> So you have to mount it on a very long pole.
And it’s gonna have to be Pyrex. :-)
Exactly. I imagine a large, precisely shaped and polished glass orb is not cheap.
I suppose “direct contact with the sun” would be a very efficient way of collecting solar energy.
Maybe they can 3D print it?
>> [Alternative energy schemes] have to pull their own weight to be useful in all but niche applications.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THAT
Alternative energy is wonderful. I’m planning a solar installation in the future, myself. Not to save money but for a degree of self-sufficiency.
But I don’t expect YOU to pay for MINE... and I sure as heck don’t want to be forced to pay for YOURS.
Meanwhile, drill and frack the hell out of the back forty... and find a use for all that cheap GAS!!!
Solar would be awesome if it could be done in a way that it didn’t need subsidies.
I really think someone will figure it out sometime.
LOL!!
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