The concept of space-based solar power (SBSP) has been around for over five decades, but it’s only now that scientists have achieved a major milestone in its development. In June 2023, scientists at the California Institute of Technology successfully transmitted solar power to Earth from space using a prototype spacecraft called Maple. This breakthrough could pave the way for energy to be sent to remote regions and areas affected by war or natural disasters where access to electricity is limited.
The idea of space-based solar power involves capturing the energy produced by the sun in space and transmitting it wirelessly to Earth using microwaves. The technology required to achieve this is complex, but the potential benefits are enormous. Since the sun shines 24 hours a day in space, space-based solar power would provide a constant source of renewable energy that’s not affected by weather conditions or time of day. It could also be used to power space missions and settlements.
The first engineering design for a solar power satellite was produced by Czech-born NASA engineer Peter Glaser in 1968 and published that year in the journal Science. Since then, there have been several attempts to develop the technology required for SBSP, but progress has been slow due to the high costs involved and technical challenges. However, recent advances in space technology and wireless power transmission have renewed interest in space-based solar power as a viable source of clean energy.
The Maple spacecraft launched into orbit in January 2023 was designed to test the technology required for SBSP. It consisted of two parts: a solar panel that captured sunlight and converted it into electricity, and a microwave transmitter that beamed the energy to a receiving station on Earth. The power was transmitted wirelessly over a distance of 1.2 miles, which may not seem like much, but it’s a significant achievement given the technical challenges involved.
One of the main challenges of space-based solar power is the need to transmit energy wirelessly over long distances without losing too much power. This is achieved using microwaves, which are similar to the waves used in microwave ovens but at a much higher frequency. Microwaves can travel through the atmosphere and are not affected by weather conditions, making them ideal for transmitting energy from space. However, they can also be dangerous if not properly contained, so safety measures need to be put in place.
Another challenge of Space-Based Solar Power is the cost involved in launching the necessary equipment into space. Solar panels and microwave transmitters are bulky and heavy, which makes launching them into space expensive. However, recent advances in space technology have made it possible to launch smaller and more efficient satellites at a lower cost. This could make SBSP more economically viable in the future.
The potential benefits of SBSP are numerous. Since it provides a constant source of renewable energy, it could help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It could also be used to power remote regions and areas affected by war or natural disasters where access to electricity is limited. In addition, it could be used to power space missions and settlements, making long-term space exploration more feasible.
However, there are also concerns about the potential drawbacks of SBSP. One concern is the environmental impact of launching large numbers of satellites into space. Space debris is already a major problem, and adding more satellites could exacerbate the problem. Another concern is the potential health risks of wireless energy transmission. Although microwaves are generally safe, there’s still some uncertainty about their long-term effects on human health.
Despite these concerns, the successful transmission of solar power from space to Earth using Maple is a major achievement that could pave the way for more research into SBSP and its development into a viable large-scale energy source. The next step is to scale up the technology and test it over longer distances.
While there are still challenges to overcome, the potential benefits of SBSP are enormous and could play a critical role in our transition to a low-carbon future.
A South Korean company has made a groundbreaking achievement as they unveiled the world’s first production line dedicated to perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. These innovative solar cells have the potential to boost efficiency by 50-75% compared to standard solar panels.
The commercialization of perovskite-based solar cells marks a significant milestone after years of advancements with the mineral. It has widely been regarded as a “miracle” material capable of revolutionizing various industries, including renewable energy.
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The next-generation solar cell technology
Qcells, based in Seoul, has committed a substantial investment of US$100mn to bring this next-generation solar cell technology from the realm of lab tests and academic research to practical application.
A pilot production line to be operational by late next year will be funded by the investment at a factory in Jincheon.
“This investment in Jincheon will mark an important step in securing technological leadership,” said Justin Lee, CEO of Qcells.“With a global R&D network spanning from Korea, Germany and the US, Qcells will ramp up its efforts to produce high-efficiency advanced tandem cells.”
Improving sufficiency
Tandem solar cells offer a significant enhancement to the efficiency of conventional solar panels, by dividing the light spectrum and optimizing energy extraction from each segment to generate electricity.
In fact, the world record for solar cell efficiency stands at 32.5%, achieved with a perovskite-silicon tandem cell. In contrast, traditional silicon-based solar cells typically reach only around 22% efficiency.
This signifies that nearly one-third of solar radiation can be efficiently converted into electrical energy.
The development of tandem solar cells represents a promising leap forward in harnessing solar energy more effectively and surpassing the limitations of conventional silicon-based technologies.
Every hour, the Earth is bathed in 430 quintillion Joules of energy from the sun. That is more than the amount of energy the whole of humanity consumes in a full year. These staggering figures show the true potential of solar energy for innovation. And the uses of sunshine go beyond solar farms and solar panels on domestic roofs.
Four of this month’s innovations use the sun as an energy source for applications as varied as urban mobility and water disinfection. A new tiny house achieves carbon neutrality through in-built solar panels, while an electric tuk-tuk can travel 10,000 kilometres per year on solar energy alone. Meanwhile, a cleantech startup has a bold vision to put super-efficient, digitally printed solar cells on every consumer device, and a social enterprise has developed a device that lets remote communities harness the UV rays in sunlight to disinfect drinking water.
Elsewhere, a materials science company has produced thermally efficient clothing that can help to reduce home heating and cooling emissions and costs, while a route-planning app and website makes it easy for travellers to find the greenest and most cost-effective way to reach their destination.
A new generation of self-powered carbon-neutral tiny homes
Photo source Cosmic
The average American home emits around 6,400 pounds (2,903 kilogrammes) of carbon dioxide per year according to NPR. By contrast, tiny homes typically produce around 2,000 pounds (907 kilogrammes) of annual CO2 emissions. Now, US startup Cosmic has produced a tiny home design that it claims is carbon neutral.
The company’s ultra-efficient homes start at just 350 square feet, but they come packed with high-tech features that allow them to function as both a primary residence and a getaway bolt-hole. The secret to the design’s success is its standardised frame, which includes built-in solar panels and batteries. Each tiny house also includes a built-in roof and floor, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.
The modular design means that the houses can be assembled quickly and easily, without the need for construction crews. And because they are optimised to be energy-efficient, they can be powered entirely by renewable energy sources. Lithium-ion batteries store energy from the solar panels, with the option to return any extra energy produced back to the grid.
Solar-powered Tuk-Tuks could be coming to a city near you
Photo source Infinite Mobility
Increasingly, those interested in city planning and energy saving have been pointing out that it just doesn’t make sense to transport people or smaller amounts of goods around urban areas in traditional vehicles – even electric vehicles. Cars are large, heavy, and energy-intensive, and startup Infinite Mobility has developed an alternative – solar-powered tuk-tuks designed for last-mile deliveries, or to efficiently carry just one or two people.
The design for the streamlined solar tricycles incorporates solar cells into the vehicle’s body. And the diminutive size of the vehicles means they are cheaper to produce and buy than a four-wheeled vehicle. Moreover, the tricycles can travel up to 10,000 kilometres per year on solar energy alone – enough for the average urban user.
Infinite Mobility also points out that the tuk-tuks don’t need recharging from the grid, eliminating one annoyance of EV ownership. And there is another benefit – depending on where they’re based, many micro-mobility vehicle sales are now supported by subsidies from local, regional, or national governments.
Super-efficient solar cells are digitally printed to fit any device
Photo source Perovskia
Cleantech company Perovskia Solar combines inkjet printing with customised design to build solar cells that fit almost any product. Designed for seamless integration into existing devices, the Perovskia solar cells work exceptionally well even in low lighting conditions.
Perovskite is a calcium titanium oxide mineral that, when applied in a thin film as a semiconductor, converts solar energy to power very efficiently. Using green nanoparticle inks, the Perovskia solar cells are digitally printed in a variety of sizes and shapes to fit smart devices such as wearables, sensors, and IoT devices.
As well as being more cost-effective than current photovoltaics, the company’s production process is much healthier for the environment – producing far fewer emissions. Perovskia also provides bespoke designs to help businesses create solar cells that fit their projects technically and visually.
Disinfecting water with sunshine
Photo source HELIOZ
Around the world, 1.8 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. To avoid water-borne disease, these people must treat the water available to them before they can drink it. But existing treatment solutions are associated with additional costs – both monetary and environmental. Boiling water, in particular, causes carbon emissions and air pollution.
But there is one way to treat water that involves no emissions and uses a free resource found everywhere: sunlight. Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is a process where the sun’s natural UV rays eliminate pathogens—such as bacteria, viruses, and protazoa—from contaminated water exposed to sunshine. The difficulty is knowing when contaminated water has been exposed for a sufficient length of time for the UV rays to have rendered it safe.
This is where Austrian social enterprise HELIOZ comes in. The organisation has developed the WADI – a device that visualises the process of SODIS in water containers such as plastic and glass bottles. The WADI device, which can measure UV light, is placed alongside bottles of contaminated water exposed to sunshine, so that it receives the same dosage of UV rays. It can then be used to measure when the bottles have received sufficient exposure to render them safe – defined as the removal of 99.99% of pathogens.
Thermally efficient T-shirts reduce the need for heating and air conditioning
Photo source Parker Burchfield on Unsplash
In the US, 38% of greenhouse gas emissions from residential housing are produced as a result of heating and cooling rooms. In response, materials science company LifeLabs has developed a new generation of thermally efficient textiles.
Wearers of the company’s CoolLife t-shirt experience a continual reduction in body temperature of three degrees Fahrenheit, while the WarmLife jacket is billed as one of the warmest in the world. The CoolLife and WarmLife ranges can help to reduce reliance on cooling and heating systems – both of which contribute significant amounts of emissions. For example, continuous cooling of three degrees of body heat can make a huge difference throughout the day and night, making it easier to target the use of HVAC systems for limited amounts of time.
LifeLabs’ in-house manufacturing technology saves water, heat, steam, chemicals, and plastic. The brand’s initial product line is 74% recycled by fabric weight, and manufacturing improvements have reduced water consumption by 70%.
Route planning for green and cost-effective travel
Photo source Stefano Lombardo on Unsplash
While most people know that flying uses much more carbon than other forms of mass transit, they are likely to be less aware of the emissions to cost ratio of other modes of transport. To make things more confusing, at least in Europe, it is often difficult to book train tickets in advance when travelling through more than two countries, or to compare emissions on different services and routes.
To cut through this confusion, startup Green Tickets has developed an app and website that allows users to rank transport options by travel time, price, and CO2 emissions. The company’s goal is both to make it as easy to book a bus or train ticket as it is to book an airline ticket, and to provide transparency about emissions in a way that helps people make more informed decisions.
To compile its data, Green Tickets uses a variety of sources, including Google Maps for driving routes, open-source projects for European trains, and the back office of Skyscanner for flight information. The data allows users to quickly find the optimal itinerary for each trip, based on time of the year, availability, budget, carbon emissions, and personal preferences.
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A new kind of solar cell, that is so thin it can be stuck on walls and windows, with no discernible loss of light, looks set to give green energy a major boost within a decade after a Government-funded breakthrough in the technology.
A hundred times thinner than a human hair, the cell could be put on clothing to power wearable electronics, such as smart watches and Fitbits, its developers say.
It could be liberally applied to all sorts of surfaces, from industrial solar farm panels to household roofs; from cars and ships to temperature and other smart sensors.
And it could potentially even be used in space to help power telescopes, satellites and space ships, they suggest.
A breakthrough in the efficiency of this solar cell – which involves tiny crystals containing silver and bismuth metal – means it is now on the brink of being commercially viable to manufacture.
The developers hope they can double the efficiency within five years, making it comparable with the most efficient solar panels currently available.
And while they concede they may not achieve this goal they are confident that, even with much smaller improvements, the cells will be commercially available within a decade.
“This solar cell could revolutionise solar power,” Seán Kavanagh, of University College London, told i.
“They are so cheap and easy to manufacture that they have huge potential to be integrated everywhere in a ‘winning by numbers’ strategy’. They are so flexible and extremely thin that we wouldn’t even notice them,” he said.
“So while the power generated in a given area mightn’t be as high as a dedicated solar farm in the Sahara, the fact they are everywhere – and invisible – means we could still be capturing large amounts of energy with a vast ‘effective surface area’. To use a fishing analogy – instead of fishing for a a few really big fish, as a Saharan solar farm does, it’d be like fishing for millions of small fish with a huge net,” added Mr Kavanagh, a PhD student splitting his research between UCL and Imperial College London.
Researchers not directly involved in the research welcomed the breakthrough and said they, too, were hopeful it could be commercialised within a decade.
Professor Valeria Nicolosi, of Trinity College Dublin, said: “This is an exciting breakthrough which has the potential to transform solar power in the UK and overseas. It is another example of how fundamental studies can lead to work with huge societal impact.”
Dr Sam Stranks, Cambridge University, added: ‘This is an important breakthrough. If the efficiency can keep being improved, we may well see such technologies competitive in, for example, lightweight and wearable solar applications.”
Using complex computer modelling, researchers were able to significantly increase the efficiency of these new kind of solar cells, finding that an even, 50/50 spread of silver and bismuth atoms across the material increased how much light the nanocrystals absorbed, allowing more energy to be generated.
The breakthrough brings the efficiency of the cell to 9 per cent compared to 1 to 2 per cent a decade ago – meaning that 9 per cent of the energy from sunlight that it comes into contact with it is converted into electricity.
Conventional solar panels are 20 per cent efficient but they need to be more efficient because they are much more expensive and bulky, Mr Kavanagh says.
However, he is hopeful – although not certain – that the efficiency of his cell can be increased to around 20 per cent in five years or so – although a little more than it’s current level of 9 per cent would be fine to commercialise, he argues.
As well as converting natural sunlight into electricity, this new kind of solar cell can harvest artificial light from lightbulbs and use it to generate power indoors. This is something that conventional solar panels can’t do, which require natural light.
“You could integrate these solar cells into clothes, or wallpaper, for example where you ‘recycle’ the power from indoor lighting,” said Mr Kavanagh.
“This is particularly useful for ‘Internet of Things’ devices, like wearable electronics, smart sensors and others where their ‘smart’ function requires electric power. So rather than having loads of devices that need to be plugged into the grid or have batteries replaced, they can power themselves by constant absorbing light energy from the surroundings,” he said.
Mr Kavanagh worked on the solar technology with researchers at the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Yonosei University in Seoul and the ICREA in Spain.
The research was funded by the UK Government, the European Research Council and the European Union’s Horizon 202 programme and is detailed in the journal Nature Photonics.
“As we move towards environmentally-friendly, low carbon sources of energy these findings are an important step towards increasing the efficiency of solar power technology,” said Dr Kedar Pandya, at EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), the government research funding body.
“And by potentially reducing our dependency on the toxic or rare elements currently needed to produce solar cells, these findings could also deliver further environmental and cost benefits,” he said.
Seán Kavanagh is a third-year PhD candidate supervised by Professor David Scanlon, of UCL and Professor Aron Walsh, of Imperial College London, who were co-authors of the paper in Nature Photonics.
