On Fri, 3 Apr 2009 17:10:22 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Apr 3, 3:45*pm, Smitty Two wrote:
In article , LouB
wrote:





wrote:
On Apr 3, 11:56 am, Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,

*"HeyBub" wrote:
Solar-electric anything is a bad investment.
Arguably true today, but you won't be able to say that for long. We're
working on the next generation of solar at work, as are others.
Efficiency of the collectors has gone way, way up, and prices keep
coming down.

A friend of mine had a system put on his roof a year ago. He has no
batteries, so the meter runs backwards during the day and forwards at
night. He spent $18,000, and he's saving $60 a month. Hardly a
respectable return, financially.

Within six months, we're planning to have a system of equivalent output
that's 1/3 the size at 1/3 the cost. That should be approaching
viability from an investment standpoint, particularly with the gov't
incentives now in effect.

What exactly is the big breakthrough that allows you to suddenly get a
3X improvement? * Everything I've seen with solar electric panels has
been at a much slower pace over a long time. *One would think if there
was some sudden breakthrough in efficiency it would be all over the
press.

If he told you he would have to kill you, but it is a good question.

Lou

Orders of magnitude, as opposed to incremental,

A 3X improvement is not an order of magnitude, which would be 10X.


advances in detector
efficiency in just the last few years are a matter of public record.


Detector? What is a detector?

I don't doubt that there have been advances in detector efficiency in
the last few years. However I believe they have been incremental,
not a sudden 3X jump, which would be revolutionary. f you have a link
to even a 3X improvement in solar cell efficiency in the last few
years, I'd like to see it and how it was accomplished.



The detectors themselves are in mass production and available for sale.

Detector? What's a detector?




Using those detectors to build ferociously better solar panels requires
overcoming some engineering challenges. We know how to do that. Of
course, there are many other people working on this, and likely all of
them have more money than we do. Sometimes that's a blessing, sometimes
it's a curse.

The popular press will perk up when the new stuff is out there
producing, I imagine.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Last time I checked, it cost around $50K for a 6KW solar system for a
home. Are you saying in 6 months your company is going to be
offering a 6KW system that costs around $17K and takes up 1/3 the roof
space? Call me skeptical, but that just sounds too good to be true.

Reflectors and double sides panels can almost double output from a
given square footage of panels.

Light can be collected and concentrated by reflectors and lenses. The
biggest problem to overcome is heat.