Polymer Solar Cell Research Breakthrough at California NanoSystems Institute, UCLA
http://info.biotech-calendar.com/bid/89038/Polymer-Solar-Cell-Research-Breakthrough-at-California-NanoSystems-Institute-UCLA
I have read about transparent solar cells before, but their efficiencies were so low that it was hard to envision them being economical at any price (even in new construction the cost of running all the wires would probably sap any value even if the cells were free). However, these are reported to be a bit North of 10% efficient (compared to the highly optimized (and highly expensive) ~60% or so that go onto satellites and the more routine (but still quite expensive) versions used terrestrially that run around 35%), so if the manufacturing can be made really cheap then they might be onto something. Indeed, I wonder if they could layer that on top of regular solar panels to get an extra 10% more energy for ‘free’ (or if it would reduce the efficiency of the panels more than they were worth).
Of course, this doesn’t solve the storage problem, that pernicious evil problem that, until it is resolve, pretty much makes any sun/wind based system impractical.
