4. Solar Panel
Earlier, we have mentioned about the fact that someday, fossil fuel will run out. And if we don’t take actions to switch to renewable energy, it will be our doom. There are other sources of energy besides fossil fuel. Among the most popular are geothermal and solar energy.
Geothermal is clean and highly efficient, but the cost to retrieve and process is too expensive. Plus, the risks are high. So, we turn to solar energy. Russel Ohl created silicon solar cell back in 1941. He was a notable semiconductor researcher but people could not understand his research.
Until one day, Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller, and Daryl Chopin came along. They took on Ohl’s invention to create the first ever solar panel. But a huge issue hindered the world to take on this great invention: efficiency. That first solar panel could only produce 4% of energy efficiency. It was way below fossil fuel’s efficiency, which is somewhere around 70%.
But today, after years of research and development, solar energy has become more efficient. In 1970s, the first solar panel with multi-junction cell was built. It managed to produce 20% of efficiency. And today, it has reached 50%. Soon, it will match fossil fuel’s efficiency, if not exceed it. I think we should get ourselves some solar panel at home now.
