Living in Minnesota, the winter months can be trying on many levels. Cold temperatures, slippery roads, ice dams, the list goes on. And to add insult to injury, it seems as if we only get about four hours of sunlight each day.
With the winter solstice upon us – and with it
Residential solar systems for electricity and heating water are most often installed separately, competing for limited roof space and the greatest amount of exposure to sunlight. Some newer hybrid models are overcoming this situation by combining photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal technologies in an integrated system that uses the same surface area to capture
Advances in solar energy efficiencies have so far been made with irregular surfaces, thinner tabbing between cells, more optically perfect glass and even special coatings, but now Stanford engineers say the best efficiency is via ultra-thin polymer films inside solar cells that allow more “bounce room.”
Add to that a slightly rougher surface, such