Solar power has been around for many years but what are any of us doing about it? Not much, I reckon. The costs associated with the production and installation of hefty solar panels still outweighs the benefits. Therefore, I believe if we could get a return on our investment sooner than the 8 or 10 year current average, more of us would invest in this type of technology – and why not , it’s ‘green’.

Sceptics may say, “… the sun doesn’t shine all of the time, solar is not efficient”, but it does shine enough to generate energy using the new solar thin film cell technology. This development of innovative photovoltaic technology uses transparent, flexible plastic solar panels which will convert solar energy into electricity in a most cost-effective way.

A leading company developing this plastic film is Solarmer Energy Inc. They say that their panels have the potential to push the cost of renewable energy down to around 15 cents/kWh and less than $1/Watt, this will mean that for the first time ever, solar is capable of power generation on a par with conventional fuel costs. This is what is needed, so now there will be little reason to shy away from this alternative energy, after all it’s much cleaner and ‘greener’ than energy from fossil fuels.

The solar film is manufactured into plastic panels, made from extremely thin layers of plastics and other materials, including polymers. These can then be produced efficiently and in sufficient quantities to keep production costs down. The amazing results achieved on the efficiency of electicity generation has astounded many scientists – the cell is 98% plastic and catches 96% of incident light.

This ‘Power Plastic’ was introduced to the world in 2008 by the company that invented it, Konarka Technologies from India, whose staff includes many of the world’s top thin film photovoltaic scientists. In 2010, Konarka’s Power Plastic achieved a world record 8.3% eficiency Certification from National Energy Renewable Laboratory (NREL).

At present traditional silicon solar modules dominate the solar maket with 90% market share. However, due to exhorbitant costs of silicon, and the difficulties of manufacturing silicon-based solar panels, success in this area has been limited. The cost of generating electricity by using solar modules is approximately 10 times higher than that from fossil fuel.

By going the plastic solar cell route, cost savings can be achieved as follows:

1. The raw material cost of plastic is lower, Plastic is the active material used to convert solar energy into electricity.

2. Lower material usage. With amazing light absorption from the very thin plastics used – a few tenth of a micrometer thick which is less than 1/1000 of silicon cell, less material is required resulting in lower cost.

3. Low manufacturing costs. Reduced printing costs are achievable as the techniques used to manufacture solar cells are similar to that of printing on conventional newspaper. This equates to a cost saving of between 10 and 20% that of silicon technology. Fabrication is undertaken in a more friendly environment and using lower temperatures, all helping to save costs!

Further positive attributes are the ease and flexibilty to bond to special metal foils and other flexible substrates. This allows for light weight applications.

It can be seen that generating solar energy from this plastic technology is totally viable. In time I’m sure that this thin coating could be applied to or become part of a typical roofing structure, i.e. built into the tiles or flexed over corrugated sheeting. But it really is time to think about harnessing the sun’s energy as much as we can – it’s always there, except for the odd cloud (which doesn’t matter with this system!) and it’ll always be free. Like anything new, scientists have taken the lead – we must follow.

If you are interested in knowing how to generate power and reduce your electricity bills by saving energy, Save Energy 4u is a great place to start. Whether it’s wind power, solar power or just wanting to know more about energy saving, visit http://www.saveenergy4u.com