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A solar panel that works at night? You can do ... Energy Prize

The limit of a photovoltaic system is obviously the one that can not operate at night, which means that the photovoltaic panels, not being affected by the sun, can not in this circumstance energy. But it seems that Steven Novack, of ' Idaho National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, did not think so. And then, he has invented a new concept of solar panels will likely is set to revolutionize the industry.

Novack's thinking is based on the fact that about half of the available energy of the solar spectrum band arrives on our planet in the infrared (IR). Part of this energy is re-emitted as heat from the ground during the night. If the night is cloudy, in the infrared part are reflected back to the ground. In the case of cloudless night, the heat passes through the atmosphere and escapes into space as infrared radiation.

system microantenne Novack is made by gathering 84% of the photons re-emitted from the ground. A real operating system used on a large scale could reach 46% efficiency much higher than current solar panels. This is due to the fact that, unlike silicon cells, it appears that microantenne are able to absorb infrared over a wide angular range, thus ensuring a higher efficiency.