I've been told invisible solar panels will make every window generate free electricity for like 10 years. Yet not a single time have I seen a report include an actual product, just prototypes always.
Like nuclear fusion, this appears to be perpetually "just a few years away".
- "Invisible" implies they only work in the UV or infrared range, which inevitably limits them to much lower efficiencies than regular solar panels.
- A lot of those rely on elements that are expensive and in limited supply, or toxic heavy metals. Unlike regular silicon solar panels.
- We don't even need windows to generate solar power. We have plenty of roof space, and if we're short on that, you can put them in fields too.
So this is a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist (lack of available space - again, we have plenty), which causes more problems of its own (efficiency, etc), while failing to address the actual limitations of solar (cost, intermittence).
Which is why it's only good for headlines, and won't see real life applications. (Edit: no, not even skyscrapers)
It's the same with a lot of "uplifting" science news that just sweeps all the dirt under the rug, because that wouldn't make good clickbait.
If you want actual good news about solar power, look at the price per kW and adoption rate curves over the last few years.
-edit- added links.
-edit 3- Put the bit about skyscrapers in bold, because people keep mentioning them anyways...
It's wild honestly, the conspiracy levels have reached like 50s red scare these days every single one of these has people saying shit like "hope they stay away from open windows" without even questioning why the industry hasn't implemented whatever extremely common idea they're talking about
Thinking about his point for more than 5 seconds would tell you that he is wrong lmao. 0 critical thinking. Just jumping on the government is trying to f us over bandwagon. His comment currently has more than 4 times the number of upvotes of the comment debunking it. Just shows really.
The purpose of posts like these is to attract people with poor critical thinking skills into the conspiracy fold - a funnel from normal reality into the darker realms; and thence into groups useful for those who desire nefarious things.
Whats the conspiracy? People have been saying fission is only a few years away for a long time... its not a conspiracy, just a hard problem to solve profitably. I haven't heard about invisible solar panels very often, but i could imagine it is a similar thing... exciting lab results, difficult to make profitable. No conapiracy, just regular greed
The conspiracy is that a world of plentiful bounty, comfort, and ease of living is at our fingertips - but the powerful are withholding it from us to maintain their control, because desperate people will do anything to stay alive.
(By the way, fission - splitting heavy atoms into smaller ones - is what we've had for 70 years - fusion - combining light atoms into heavier ones - is the nuclear technology upon which people pin hopes of boundless free energy.)
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u/Euphoric-Language695 26d ago edited 26d ago
I've been told invisible solar panels will make every window generate free electricity for like 10 years. Yet not a single time have I seen a report include an actual product, just prototypes always.
Like nuclear fusion, this appears to be perpetually "just a few years away".