Sun power: with rising oil prices and environmental concerns, solar power is being eyed as an alternative to fossil fuels and nuclear plants. Swiss News talks with Dr. Ayodhya N. Tiwari, head of a research group working on thin-film solar technology at ETH in Zurich and co-founder of a spin-off company now planning to bring the 'new solar' to market.
| Auteur | Sethi, Aradhna |
| Fonction | BUSINESS UNUSUAL |
When he talks about a future built around solar energy, Tiwari gets a gleam of excitement in his eyes. He says that solar cell technology could ultimately bring solar energy into our very pockets with such ideas as a portable recharger that looks like a pen but actually contains rolled up film solar cells to boost your mobile phone, laptop, iPod and camera.
But it's not just about convenience. In natural catastrophes, "the infrastructure is usually broken," says Tiwari. "Doctors need electricity to carry out life-saving procedures and pure water is required." If a roll of solar could be sent with doctors, access to immediate power could save many lives, he says.
Tiwari believes solar cells could help to jump-start Third World development. "A third of the world's population have no access to electricity," he says. "They don't have fossil fuel or nuclear plants but they do have the sun. Hopefully, one day they will see the sun smiling at them!"
To the rescue
We all know solar cells in calculators weigh next to nothing and take little effort, but most power needs are far greater than theirs.
Tiwari says his technology could be used to make tents and jackets with detachable, flexible-cell solar panels. In Pakistan's recent earthquake, "people had to take refuge in tents. These tents could have been integrated with solar cells to provide power for basic communication and perhaps a light bulb." The embedded solar cells could also be used to charge night-vision goggles for military and rescue units, he says.
Recently, US-based companies have started making solar tents using amorphous silicon solar cells, but they exhibit lower power generation than Tiwari's flexible cells while their "costs are high and portability is a problem due to weight, large area size and lack of flexibility," he says.
A solar-powered charging device could run your laptop today, but the existing solar charger is based on the conventional silicon wafer, weighs three kilograms and isn't readily portable. The silicon is costly and the wafers, very expensive to make.
Harvesting energy
The new technology could provide an efficient charger, the size of a sheet of paper and weighing less than 50 grams--with the potential to cost about a fifth of today's price and work for at least 20 years. The rigid and heavy solar cells we see today are usually oil buildings. But Tiwari says flexible solar cells, when grown on sheets of plastic, can be integrated in roofs, walls and other...
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