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Revolutionizing Solar Energy by Taking It Underground

by Caleb Johnson on November 23, 2009 at 05:25 PM

Want greener energy without having to install large, gaudy solar panels on your house? Join the club. But what was once wishful thinking might soon be reality. According to ABC Science, scientists have created a way to harness sunlight and convert it into electricity by connecting a photovoltaic cell to fiber-optic wiring that's barely wider than a human hair. (Note that it doesn't actually use human hair, like these guys.) The wires, which are coated with zinc oxide (the stuff lifeguards plaster on their noses), could be installed on a roof or, best of all, underneath a house or inside its walls -- as long as the tip of the wire is exposed to the sun.

Here's how it works. Light is absorbed at the tip of the wire, and zips down its length and back, letting the zinc oxide convert it into electricity along the way. How effective is this process? Dr. Zhong Wang, who led the team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, says the wires only convert about 3.3-percent of the light that passes through. He hopes, though, that the number will soon jump to 8-percent.

That level of efficiency doesn't make it practical to wire your whole house with fiber-optics, but it's encouraging that researchers are trying different methods. As long as it doesn't lead to more stuff like this, we're fine with it. [From: ABC Science, via: Treehugger]

Tags: breakthrough, electricity, energy, fiber optic, FiberOptic, green, home, science, solar, solar power, SolarPower, top

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