Over the past few weeks, we have been hearing a lot about IBM doing loads of green stuff, which is all good. Now, IBM and Stanford researchers have come up with a way that would allow for PET plastic recycling, and do that at much lower temperatures. Currently, PET plastics are downcycled, rather than recycled. Which is to say, that they are good only for a lesser use like carpets and clothing, and cannot be recycled again.
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The way things stand, most of our gadgets have toxic compounds, and manufacturing them includes the use of more toxic compounds. Many companies have made conscious attempts to eliminate these toxins but there has been little success. And that is exactly why IBM deserves kudos for eliminating the use of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) compounds from the company’s chip manufacturing business.
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Researchers at IBM have claimed to have found a new path to solar power, one that will make solar panels a lot more cheaper. The cheaper part is achieved by the use of “Earth abundant” elements, the use of which will be comparatively more cost effective than the Copper, Indium, Gallium, and Selenium that GIGS thin film cells use.
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Silicon photovoltaic panels are the most expensive solar installations at the moment but things are about to change because IBM claimed they have the technology to reduce the cost of harnessing the Sun’s energy for electricity, down to $2 / W.

The company announced in a press release on Thursday, that using a large lens that concentrates power to around 2300x, they managed to capture a record 230 Watts on a square centimeter of solar cell which was later converted into 70 Watts of usable electric power. The main problem with such a power concentration is cooling down the silicon cell but I guess IBM engineers are experts in doing it, though not for photovoltaics.

“Specifically, the IBM team used a very thin layer of a liquid metal made of a gallium and indium compound that they applied between the chip and a cooling block. Such layers, called thermal interface layers, transfer the heat from the chip to the cooling block so that the chip temperature can be kept low.”

If IBM’s technology turns out to be true and the company is able to cool the solar cell efficiently, concentrated photovoltaic systems may become the cheapest type of solar energy available on the market. This would be a very big step in going mainstream, don’t you think?