There are different kinds of solar panels. The most typically used is a type that generates electricity from the sun through a physical process called the photo-voltaic (PV) effect – when light exposure on certain materials generates an electric current. Another kind of solar panel is the one that inspired a team of researchers at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California to develop a new system that can harness energy in darkness. It’s based on the concept of using heat to generate energy but an inverse version of the solar panel. While the solar panel uses the heat difference between the sun and Earth with the Earth being the cooler side – their system makes use of the heat difference between the coolness of the night atmosphere and the Earth with the Earth being the hotter side.
Named as “anti-solar panel” by some, the device has the potential to bridge the gap left by solar energy, collecting energy from the night sky. The thermoelectric generator-based device harnesses the variance in temperature between Earth and outer space by using “a passive cooling mechanism known as radiative sky cooling to maintain the cold side of a thermoelectric generator several degrees below ambient.”
The researchers have only tested their system with a very small prototype. The device was a 20-centimeter (8-inch) aluminum disk painted black and hooked up to commercial thermoelectricity generators. It successfully created enough energy to power a single small LED lightbulb–a small success with immeasurably massive potential. It’s even possible that the device could act in reverse during the daytime, absorbing sunlight and producing electricity from a heat travelling from the sun to the disk and into the outside environment.
For now, this device doesn’t come close to the energy harvesting abilities of a solar panel but the technology is still only in the research and development stage. The researchers have already planned improvements including enhanced insulation around the top plate that could potentially raise the device’s energy production to 0.5 watts per square meter or more, and this is only the beginning.
Once they are able to refine the system to produce anywhere close to as much energy as a standard solar panel, it could completely transform the renewable energy sector. It’s cheaper to make and can provide a way to generate electricity at a time that solar panels can’t.
Follow me on Quora for solar industry information: https://www.quora.com/profile/Manas-Sachan
Follow me on Quora for solar industry information: https://www.quora.com/profile/Manas-Sachan
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