Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
That's the first I've heard of that opinion (and no offense taken). I have a hard time believing that lack of solar cells is due to any big conspiracy, but I'll listen to them when I get a chance (hopefully sometime before Christmas, at this rate!).
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It is not a conspiracy. What happened is that there was a big demand 2 years ago for solar panels. At that point the producing centers for pure silicon were backed up but they have built two more centers which have now started production. As a trafic jam, such productions have not yet cleared the piled backlog. This is the time where greedy hands get at work. The Chinese have their own facilities and have now flooded the market with smaller cells. Are they expensive? No. The pricey and, quote, 'rare' solar panels commodities are only the ones for home electricity. Just go figure why. After all a solar panel is just an assembly of small cells.
There is an interesting podcast interview with the head of a manufacturer about the whole mess, t
hat is quite interesting.
Those tpodcasts are long and last from anywhere between 15 to 90 minutes each. I put them on a pod and listen to them while working, driving or cleaning.
Two other podcasts of interest are:
Autoblog green and
The Watt Weekly
Those three together makes for roughly 200 hours of listening. If you're passionate about the subject, as I am, it is pure pleasure to set time aside for them. Try also Home
Power Magazine. The current monthly issue is available on site in pdf, and all previous ones can be had on a cd rom they sell. Believe me if you're a tinkerer you'll love them.
There is an other solar panel on the way that is about 1% less efficient energy wise but it is flexible and can be made to be a roofing material at 80% the cost of actual solar panels. The reason is less handling but add to that the benefit of no prior roof installation required and they really become interesting. With those, today's monocrystalline panels are dead.