Sunday, August 08, 2010

Let there be light (and heat)

A new process developed by Stanford engineers--photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE, for short)--promises to boost solar power considerably, bringing it within a range to compete with oil.

"This is really a conceptual breakthrough, a new energy conversion process, not just a new material or a slightly different tweak," said Nick Melosh, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, who led the research group. "It is actually something fundamentally different about how you can harvest energy."


Watch and judge for yourself.