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Originally Posted by New Era
Again, you're wrong. I just had solar cells installed on my house with a guarantee of revenue from the vendor for electricity I sell back to the grid, based on that exact efficiency number.
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How do you accurately quantify that, what with solar's significant dependence on local weather conditions. If it's lower than expected, is it because the cells don't meet their ratings or because it was cloudier than normal?
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I also like how you twisted the numbers.
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Not really, solar cell efficiency is basically a simple number. The comparable ICE value would be the conversion ratio from gas/diesel to useful kinetic energy. I'm sure it's gone up slowly like solar over the years, but I'm not the one claiming revolutions are around the corner.
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The point was that there wasn't much development in the science of solar cells from the 50s to the 2010s, but once it became an important market the innovation started happening quickly. A huge development in efficiency and reduction in cost in just three years. That is why solar power companies are popping up all over the place. There is money being made in that big ball of fire in the sky.
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A lot of them going out of business as well, even a big one like SunEdison is teetering on the edge. Many German companies setup to take advantage of the German solar push have been destroyed by Chinese manufacturing.
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I would never discount the ability to mass produce something in a cost effective way, especially something that will generate power.
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No, but one also needs to keep in mind physics and diminishing returns. Even Moore's Law is failing.