 | Solar using rare silicon? We need an iron-clad solution |
At the Financial Times Energy Conference in London on Feb 6th renewable energy was front-and-center. Or, more precisely, the fact that renewable energy needs to be a lot more, well, renewable.
The conference heard IBM tell of the booming sales of silicon solar cells: Silicon wafers for solar cells outstripped microelectronic devices for the first time in 2008.
The tide turns.
And, because silicon is the second most abundant element in the Earth’s crust behind oxygen, the tide can continue to rise, right?
Wrong.
Silicon makes relatively inefficient cells that struggle to compete with electricity generated from fossil fuels. And the most advanced solar-cell technologies rely on much rarer materials than silicon.
So that leaves us two clear solutions: find a way to make silicon more efficient, or find another material that – though it maybe less efficient and less abundant – is much cheaper than silicon. And still available in volume. And sustainable, of course.
It sounds like fool’s gold. And that’s exactly what the solution is – iron pyrite or fool’s gold.
“Scientists at Berkeley have this week released research revealing that alternative raw materials, such as iron pyrite – or Fool’s Gold – could offer a far cheaper alternative to silicon for solar panel manufacturers.”
Tom Young, BusinessGreen, 20 Feb 2009
Producing power efficiently is a solution we look for here at The Hunting Dynasty. Reducing one’s use of non-renewables isn’t a solution – as admirable as it is – it merely delays the inevitable.
And one can see echos of solar panel production in the spread of home computers, or the manufacture of rail networks: Germany’s top of the league in solar use, and as the rest of us catch up they’ll get left with less efficient legacy systems. It’s the reason why the average home PC in Americas is less powerful that those in Asia, or the reason why the average speed of trains on the UK rail network is lower than also any other country. But tit’s no bad thing overall, more a marker of progress.
And solar could do with some iron-clad progress.
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