by Maria Ramos
For years, solar panel technology has been weighed down -
quite literally - by its own ambitions. Standard solar PV panels are too heavy
and cumbersome for everyday people to hang on their own, requiring expensive,
specialized mounting supports and professional installation in addition to the
cost of the panels themselves,
Solar start-up Sunflare,
based in Los Angeles, wants to liberate the weight of solar power and make
it easier for everyone to take advantage of the sun’s limitless energy supply.
The solar panels produced by this company are extremely lightweight and have
more flexibility than traditional solar panels. In fact, according to
Solarflare, they can be hung with "little more than a 3M tab on the side
of buildings."
Sunflare solar panels are lightweight in part because they
are made entirely without glass. Instead, they are composed of a thin film that
absorbs as much, or more, light than traditional, heavier solar panels. The
copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar panels are "65 percent lighter
and able to produce 10 percent more energy throughout the day thanks in part to
better
efficiency in low light at dusk and dawn."
As solar panels become even more lightweight and
inexpensive, we can look towards a future in which fossil fuel power is
replaced by solar and other renewable energy sources. But such a major shift in
the economy won't come without a struggle. Recent figures have shown that solar
is rising - electrical output from solar energy sources has grown 400
percent in the four years between 2010-2014 - yet it still amounts to less
than two percent of the total energy consumed in the country.
Looking on the bright side, almost all of this solar power
was generated by homes and businesses outfitted with solar panels. And
according to Atco Electric, as
of late 2015 the solar industry now employs 209,859 solar workers, indicating a
growth rate of 20.2% since the same time last year. Once large-scale utility
plants are built to harness power from the sun, we can expect to see much more
significant growth in solar electricity output. If we can develop
the technology, there is absolutely no need to destroy our planet and raise
global temperatures by continuing to rely upon carbon-based fuels.
Now that solar panels are entering a new age of both
affordability and “adaptability”, the hurdle that needs to be overcome is the
'business as usual' mentality of corporations and the governments that support
them. With new, lightweight solar panels like the ones created by Sunflare, the
possibilities are endless. There are many large surfaces in Los Angeles and
other cities that could act as power generators with the addition of solar
panels. Building codes could even be revised to require that all new roofs be
covered with solar film. The technology is here, and it's time to get on board
with the transition to a clean energy economy.
It's not surprising that Sunflare and other startups are
discovering ways to reduce the cost and improve the efficacy of solar energy
collecting devices. The biggest challenge won’t be inadequate technology when
it comes to halting global warming, here the only thing that can hold us back
is ourselves.
