SolarFlower.org. Dow Solar rolls out Solar Shingles in California and Texas. Dow Solar is rolling out its new POWERHOUSE Solar Shingles in northern California and central Texas Image Gallery (5 images) Installing photovoltaic panels is certainly the most common method of generating solar power on a rooftop, and in fact many people might think it’s the only method.
MIT stacks solar panels like pancakes, increases their power output by up to 20x. What’s better than one pancake?
A whole stack of pancakes! Using the same logic, a team of MIT researchers have stacked a bunch of photovoltaic solar cells together to produce up to 20 times the power output of conventional solar power installations. Normally I’m the first to drop my jaw in awe at MIT’s latest and greatest innovations, but this one really is a bit of a no-brainer. Basically, photovoltaic cells themselves aren’t all that expensive — according to MIT, they’re only around 35% of the total cost of a solar power installation. The main issue with solar power (and its main cost) is its low energy density, and thus the sheer surface area required to generate a sizable amount of electricity.
Breakthrough 3-Dimensional Solar Cell Technology.