So you know how the electricity created by solar panels comes from the fact that when a photon of light hits the semiconductor material, it displaces an electron, and the movement of the loose electrons is an electric current? (If you don’t, we explain it a bit more fully here.) The amount of energy created by a solar panel is therefore limited by the number of electrons it can send skittering about. Researchers have successfully replicated the results of an experiment in which certain semiconductors have yield more than one electron per absorbed photon. Cool, right? If the mad scientists of the world can figure out how to replicate these results reliably and begin using these super-productive semiconductor materials in solar panels, it could mean a bump up to over 40% efficiency (as opposed to the current max, which is around 30% in a lab setting and much less in the real world). 

A shorter-term fix for higher solar panel efficiency rates is the PowerString technology from Act Solar, Inc. Act says that its product can instantly boost (by 6-11%) the efficiency of any solar installation. It “complements central inverters by dynamically re-circulating small amounts of electricity, as needed…[It] actively maintains the balance of the array, which assures maximum power output.” (Renewable Energy World)

Designed to perform in windy, rainy, and cloudy conditions, a new solar thermal collector panel produced by Irish firm Surface Power claims to be dramatically more efficient than any other solar thermal panel on the market. With vastly improved performance in morning hours and decently improved performance in the afternoon, the panels have the potential to help homeowners save even more money on domestic hot water than they can with exisiting solar thermal systems. We’ll see (a) how it goes, and (b) if the company makes enough to ship over this way, but a product designed for the Irish climate would certainly be right at home in our Pacific Northwest, or in the Northeast.

And, last but not least (but let’s be honest, most obscure), Advanced Solar Photonics (ASP) has come out with a new method for cutting glass for solar panels. The technology uses lasers to separate glass at the molecular level instead of relying on the old “score and stomp on it” method, thus saving product waste. It would be slightly more helpful if they were conserving silicon, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. The glass is structurally stronger when cut with this method, virtually defect-free, and the process saves major production time, so it seems like a cost-saver over the life cycle of the glass–production, shipping, and installation.