Spray-on Solar Cells Could Revolutionize EVERYTHING!

By Jeanette Joy Fisher

In a breakthrough that could reshape the energy needs of the world as we know it, scientists have invented a plastic solar cell that's able to turn the sun's power into electrical energy, even on cloudy days, by harnessing the sun's infrared rays. It's an exciting breakthrough, leading energy theorists to predict even greater breakthroughs as the revolutionary material is refined to become more efficient.

The composite material can be sprayed on like paint, and then used to generate highly portable electricity. For instance, if a coat was covered with the material, it could be used to power the wearer's cell phone, using both infrared and visible light to create energy.

Theoretically, an electric vehicle coated with the material could convert enough solar energy into electricity to continually recharge its batteries. Coating a rooftop with the material could easily supply a building with its energy needs, as well. Eventually, by using infrared, the new material is expected generate up to five times more power than even the most efficient of today's plastic solar cells, which typically use only about 6 percent of the sun’s available energy to create electricity.

In the not-too-distant future, it's even possible that large solar farms could be developed in the most sunny areas of the world, with huge sheets of the plastic material covering the ground. In fact, Canadian scientists from the University of Toronto (where the material was initially invented) have suggested that it would require only .1 percent of the Earth's surface to be covered with the plastic material to create enough energy to supply the entire world's needs--without generating a single drop of pollution--forever, since the energy would be completely renewable.

Until this revolutionary breakthrough, plastic solar cell technology has only made it possible to capture energy from the sun's visible light. However, only half of the sun's power is present in the visible spectrum--to capture the other half, scientists needed a way to harness the infrared spectrum.

Obtaining huge amounts of energy from the sun is no longer a visionary concept. In fact, Japan, which is the largest solar power market in the world, has plans to supply half of its total residential energy needs by 2030.

It's quite possible that the Canadian solar technology breakthrough will play a large part in helping Japan reach that goal, and for the rest of the planet's energy needs, as well.

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