Featured Research
The Physics of Solar Energy
Alexander Cronin, a UA associate professor of physics and optical sciences, is working with a team of students working with panels at the Tucson Electric Power solar test yard. The UA team has been studying various types of solar panels as part of an effort to ultimately determine how long they will last and which is most cost efficient. For an online video interview go to http://uanews.org/node/24896/
Prof.Cronin is convinced that careful measurements of solar panel performance will lead to solving the grand challenges of solar energy generation. He sums these up with the mnemonic CREST — cost, reliability, efficiency, storage and transmission. One could argue that currently, solar energy costs too much to compete with energy developed from fossil fuels, and the reliability of recently developed systems is untested. The efficiency of conversion of solar to electric power of solar panels, working in a system, is today still below 12 percent. Electricity storage is needed because the resource is only available when the sun is shining. The problem of how to send power efficiently from where the sun is shining to where it is not also needs solving. That will all take years and many minds, says Cronin, but careful physical measurement of panel performance in industrial environment is an important step towards achieving some of these goals.
For more related information see the article in Arizona Daily Star of Sunday, April 5, 2009 page B8, the web edition at http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/287467.php
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