Paint-On and Print-Out Solar Cells

Great news this week on ScienceDaily, picked up by Nanotechnology News and other outlets that researchers from Swansea University have developed a paint coating for steel buildings that will generate electricity even in low light situations.

Note that this isn’t solar panels on the roof, but the enameled coating on the siding itself. Meaning that metal buildings - including garages, barns, equipment sheds, airport hangars, outlying megachurches and community buildings could all be generating electricity (some from the infrared spectrum current solar cells cannot capture) while they’re just sitting there enclosing space. Put a few regular panels on the roof too and it could be generating more than it uses on a regular basis.

But when I went looking at just how innovative this development is in the overall scheme of things keeping affordable alternative energy options safely insulated from regular people who might just put them to work, I found that the idea isn’t all that new, and isn’t anywhere close to being marketed to consumers of things like metal buildings (commercial or residential). Why do you suppose that is, given the sheer amount of money being funneled into research and development, as well as into actual production?

For instance, National Geographic reported in January of 2005 (more than 3 years ago) that Spray-On Solar-Power Cells are True Breakthrough. Just like in the ‘new’ news, nanotechnology able to harness infrared as well as visible light was formulated into a plastic to be sprayed like paint onto stuff (including clothing and cars) to produce “portable power.”

Have you bought any solar powered clothing or cars lately capable of charging your cell phone or car battery? …I thought not. In January of 2007 (just over a year ago), researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology reported that they had developed a buckeyball-based solar cell that could be sprayed like paint onto flexible plastic sheets. Inhabitat cited one of the researchers as predicting…

“Someday homeowners will even be able to print sheets of these solar cells with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers. Consumers can then slap the finished product on a wall, roof or billboard to create their own power stations.”

Have you printed out any usable solar cells on the ol’ Epson yet? Not to worry, says Konarka Technologies, which has actually developed the inkjet solar cell printing process for big production facilities (but no reports on whether any big production facilities are actually buying it).

When can the average homeowner expect to be able to purchase house, slab and deck paint that generates electricity at Home Depot for a comparable price to regular exterior paints? When can we expect to buy roofing tiles or sheets at Lowe’s that have inkjet printed plastic coatings that not only generate electricity, but add to the life of the roofing material?

The technology is out there. The government is pouring money into development. So far, none of it’s found on the shelves at Home Depot or Lowe’s. Why is that?

If we COULD buy it for a reasonable price when it’s time to paint or re-roof, We the People surely would. I’d sure hate to think that this might actually be the reason we can’t buy it. They’ve had time to incorporate and patent, they’ve had public money for R&D, they’ve reported for years that it’s easily done and the technology is easy. They can make more money off us if they wanted, I’d sure buy the stuff and so would millions of others. What’s the holdup… really?

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Filed under Alternatives, Building, Energy, Home-Products, Homestead, Independence, Renovating |