Peel and Stick Solar Panels?

[voltzwgn]

I know there is often a long delay from the creation of a new process to actual availability. This development could certainly lead to some interesting mods and allow greater flexibity is the deployment of solar panels. Over the last few months I've seen a lot of new developments in solar power on this site. Hope that the folks doing this work are able to find funding to bring some of this stuff to market sooner rather than later. I'm hoping as we move away from the big bulky stiff panels we'll see some really cool applications of this technology.

Were I a younger man I'd be looking at this area for a future career. Maybe it's a good thing as now i can just play around with it and have fun seeing what my imagination can do.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 101933.htm

I wasn't sure the best place to post this so figured it was most applicable to mods.......... if there's a better spot feel free to move it.

[dive4it]

I've dabbled around with printed solar....silkscreened photovalic ink. It does work, I almost invensted in enough ink to make my three story metal shop into a giant solar panel.

JT

[robbarnes1965]

Wow. Solar bimini here we come

[bartmac]

We have used Unisolar stick on panels on our camper.....they're too large for our Mac at 450mm x 3200mm or there abouts...68 watts and each section is dioded so good for shading...we fitted 3 x 68 so adds up probably best part of Kw a day....enough for 12v fridge in conjunction with over 6 x 120 Ah batteries and 12v to 12v charging from the vehicle

[Ormonddude]

I Truly believe solar is the future of Energy and looked into a 4KW system for my House but it was that or the Mac guess what won? LOL

[K9Kampers]

Sails made of solar panel fabric!!!

[KookaSnook]

Love solar and let's hope this is how the technology will go. Just image it your whole Bimini and sails generating power. Can't wait!

[kadet]

Hopefully lithium ion batteries or some other storage medium can catch up, as at the moment storage is just too $$$ and has no longevity.

[mastreb]

The really exciting thing about this technique is the "here now" manufacturability of it. There's a lot of tech out there that doesn't translate efficiently from the lab to the production line or just winds up being too expensive to produce. That's often the difference between a good idea and a great idea.

This has to potential to revolutionize a lot of things. You could stick it all over the deck of a boat, for example, without really changing the material properties of the boat.

Very cool stuff!

[Calin]

Currently, the film based solar panels have about half the efficiency on the rigid ones. This, more than double the area that needs to be covered to provide same amount of energy. Typical rigid solar panels efficiency is 13-17% with recent breakthrough at 33%. If we are to cover our boats with film based solar power it may be ok, however, they are sensitive to scratches and erosion. For now, I am still looking for the rigid ones.

[Ixneigh]

I'd like the coon stripes to be solar panels