Another Look At Spray-On Solar Power Cells

Quote: “Like paint, the composite can be sprayed onto other materials and used as portable electricity. A sweater coated in the material could power a cell phone or other wireless devices. A hydrogen-powered car painted with the film could potentially convert enough energy into electricity to continually recharge the car’s battery.”
Source: Lovgren, Stefan. “Spray-On Solar-Power Cells Are True Breakthrough.” National Geographic News. 14 Jan 2005.

I’m usually a little skeptical of the entire environmental movement, and especially the whole attempt to create alternative energy sources. There’s a very good reason why we rely on petroleum, coal, and nuclear power: They provide massively more return on investment than wind or solar power. They are simple to use, and they become relatively cheaper with each passing decade.

Not only that, the distribution systems for these so-called “dirty” energy sources are incomparably better established and more efficient than any alternative.

But there is one alternative idea that has caught my attention: spray-on solar energy generation, which is being actively developed by a number of entrepreneurial companies around the world.

Here’s how it works: A special compound is sprayed on all exterior surfaces of your home or business building—or your car, boat, or any other physical structure. This clear liquid compound, consisting of miniaturized (“nano”) solar cells, captures solar energy at the infrared level, which means that it works just as well on cloudy days as on sunny ones.

When you paint your house with these cells, you capture five times the amount of the eventual electrical power as is possible with today’s solar panels—which makes it competitive with coal-generated electricity.

The reason I like this possible breakthrough so much is that it makes everybody who uses it “energy independent”—that is, free from corporate and government bureaucracies.