Cheap new flexible solar panels you'll be able to print with an inkjet

[NicePants42]

Science Daily article

Looks like it might be easier to get off the grid in a few years. I noticed that the one thing not discussed in the article was relative efficiency.

 

[GeekGirl]

Nice find!

Now if only it would stop raining long enough for the sun to actually come out. The only other issue I have with solar panels is, where I live, we get a lot of hail, like grapefruit sized hail, and those panels on the roof would be destroyed in a single storm :\

As for the efficiency, if you look back on how far we've come in even 10 years of solar panels, the efficiency has to have improved 100 fold, I can only imagine these would catch up rather quickly.

 

[NicePants42]

Now if only it would stop raining long enough for the sun to actually come out. The only other issue I have with solar panels is, where I live, we get a lot of hail, like grapefruit sized hail, and those panels on the roof would be destroyed in a single storm :\

That does suck. However with the money you save using panels like these, you may be able to afford protective shutters or something.

As for the efficiency, if you look back on how far we've come in even 10 years of solar panels, the efficiency has to have improved 100 fold, I can only imagine these would catch up rather quickly.

I tend to agree, however there are two types of efficiency to consider here, and I think that this type of product would greatly emphasize power/$cost efficiency instead of power/area efficiency. I could be completely wrong, but somehow I think that if the power/area efficiency were anywhere near that of conventional solar cells, they would've said something about it in the SD article.

 

[b1lk1]

I'd cover my entire 500+ SQ/ft roof with these if I could. Cool read.

 

[Rob Williams]

Now if only it would stop raining long enough for the sun to actually come out. The only other issue I have with solar panels is, where I live, we get a lot of hail, like grapefruit sized hail, and those panels on the roof would be destroyed in a single storm :\

Now that is crazy hail. I'm with NicePants though, I think that this will be a concern for a lot of people, so it wouldn't be unlikely to see a commercial product developed to prevent that. Maybe something similar to a convertible rooftop, I dunno.

Great read though.