A European semiconductor firm is developing a new kind of solar cell. They hope it could make renewable energy competitive with coal and natural gas. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Richie Duchon reports:
Transcript
A European semiconductor firm is developing a new kind of solar cell. They
hope it could make renewable energy competitive with coal and natural gas. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Richie Duchon reports:
Most solar panels use silicon semiconductors to convert the sun’s energy into
electricity. They’re the most efficient, but they’re also the most expensive. Right
now, solar energy costs about ten times more over a 20 year period than oil or
natural gas.
STMicroelectronics is developing a semiconductor made primarily of plastic. It
will be less efficient, but the company hopes that a significantly lower cost will
make it a competitive source of energy.
Salvo Coffa is the head of STM’s research and development.
“What we would like to see is to eliminate the first reason for not using the solar
cell, which is the high costs.”
Coffa and his team are still in the research phase, but he hopes that his company
will have plastic solar cells out by 2005.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Richie Duchon.