Solar Power can now be generated at NIGHT! It's really TRUE!

With our panels producing up to 6 kW during the day with around 21 % efficiency, the base load of our home is only around 300-400 W, meaning we could run the house on ca 1.4 % efficiency making use much less grid dependent. Granted winters we still need to buy power, but the cost overall would be much lower.

Sorry, gotta correct you on something. Yes, the GHG's trapping heat can be a bad thing if it goes too far, but that effect is also what helps keep our temperatures from swinging violently like what happens with planets without an atmosphere. So saying it's definitely a bad thing, really overshoots the complexity of the problem as it were.

It's like blankets really in a simple way. Just the right blanket, or just enough of the right blankets, and you're comfortably warm. Too many of the right blankets, and you over heat. Similarly a really heavy blanket capable of retaining heat really well will also do this, especially if the ambient temperature is also warm.

I.E. It's a balancing act between what is just the right amount of heat retention and dissipation. Right now, we have too many blankets. Not too much of one blanket. CO2 isn't doing it all on its own. Water vapour in the atmosphere also does this, and so does the methane both naturally and otherwise unnaturally released by the earth and us humans. Each one is as effective as it is at retaining heat, and makes them more or less important than the other for managing. We generally need things to eat, and to be able to drink water, so the water vapour is basically good by default. The planet needs it overall. CO2 is part of the food chain as well, like it or not. We simply just need to manage it better. Methane however, is not really needed at all (that I know of) in the atmosphere. Perhaps a small amount of it, to help retain the heat we do want to retain, but too much of it causes that to cascade into a very hot problem for us.

Again, if GHG's were entirely a bad thing, then planets without atmospheres wouldn't be constantly either super hot on one side, and super cold on the other. The atmosphere does more than just help protect us from what is out in space. It helps keep us from getting too cold as well. Well, too cold comparatively to the potential extremes otherwise. Let's just say our insulation for our homes would have to be double or triple thick to get through some of those nights. Not winters. Nights. And that sort of building method increases the number of resources needed, and the cost over all. Let's just say it wouldn't be a good time for us humans. People would start using methods to stay warm that environmentalists probably wouldn't like much. Like wood heat to suppliment their gas heat, because it's so dang cold in their home built using petrol products to power equipment and make materials used in the home.

Anyways. Sorry again to have to correct you on that, but yeah... this was grade school science class stuff that you got wrong. Not just potentially outdated stuff either. Scientific data that has yet to be proven false.

I used to work in an off-grid office for a solar installer back in the early 2000s. The ironically named MidNite charge controller often showed production on days with bright moonlight. For grid-tied systems the moonlight was never bright enough to turn on the inverter.

Meanwhile we leave the street lights on all night......... Sometimes the answers are too simple......catch up 😘

I thought you were gonna talk about getting energy from moonlight like CodysLab did 😂

That silver bullet does exist, it's nuclear

@nustada this is the moment where an intelligent person realises they've pissed off a large number of intelligent and well meaning people... as that pool of annoyed people continues to grow that intelligent person should perhaps reflect if THEY are the problem. If THEY (YOU) are the problem, then they ought to all themselves if the problem is one of misunderstanding/miscommunication. If that is the case, they would be best served by either being quiet, or apologising for their lack of English language skills and making great pains to attempt to clarify their original point.

Thans Dave for looking into this technology, it is possible to generate electricity from infrared but only miniscule at the moment however working in combination with other sources of clean energy it'll be great, a by product that actually helps. A big 👍👍

I already do "Power my home without batteries or fossil fuels 24-7-365" It is all about the backstop fitted in supply meters back in the 1990s. My supply meter predates this and has no backstop. My "supplier" cannot steal my generated electricity (the backstop) as my meter counts goods on and off the grid. If and when my meter goes net forward I will pay for their goods received. Over the past three years, I have net generated 4000Kw. I perfectly legally use the grid as a battery. I have prevented my "supplier" from illegally taking ownership of my electricity by not counting it as it goes on to the grid.

The battery from a cell phone would give you more power during the night...

Another click bait douche

You're so positive and polite. Watching your videos makes me feel like I am in the presence of a great zen master.

So now they want to turn us into batteries, bagsy being Neo😊 More and more of simulacra and simulation comes to pass.

I remember thinking how much heat energy potential was lost when I was 50-ish and experiencing hot flashes that drove me outside in winter with no need for a jacket, at least for a few minutes at a time so… take that idea and use your creative genius someone. And hopefully it will be a wearable device that eases those symptoms while harvesting energy … a headband or wristband that powers readable monitor glasses?

Sure, possibly useful in a decade or two when someone figures out how not to use tellurium of all things in the damn cells, but you cannot deny you wasted 10 minutes of everyone's lives with this extremely premature video.

There’s probably a „silver bullet“ out there. And it’s for sure connected with atomic power. We’re just not yet far enough to get it.

My guess is that in less than 50 years we‘ll generate almost all of our energy from atomic power.

Why? Simply because it takes the least space.. 😊 compared with all renewable energy producing facilities anyway. 🚨

I wouldn't call you a bozo, but you do kinda look like a Bezos. Sorry.

Hmm, imagine building an electric motor using these thermal generators.

Supply electricity to a motor, which converts that into both mechanical rnergy and heat energy.

Then the heat energy is converted back into electrical energy which is used to power the motor.

Perpetual motion machine?

Of course not, but if that motor runs at 80% efficiency, then you have 20% wasted in heat.

If you can recover 10% of that heat back into electricity, then you just made your motor 82% efficient.

Plus, if your motor requires a cooling system, you've just made that cooling system do 2% less work so you've kinda added 4% of efficiency for the overall system.

And every little bit of efficiency will help.

"Climate Change" Yeah when we gonna stop mass producing CO2 for indoor farms and soda pops? Hmp.. Operational Defenses through Weather Control in 2030 - DTIC Maybe we shouldn't be using grid tied microwaves for weather radars over Ultrasound with non-interactive frequencies? Earths atmosphere is expanding and contracting. Breathing.. Captures some rain water and checks acidity Hmm..

I bet you creatures still think there's no sound in the near vacuum around your world. Points at Ultrasonic microphones on public probe designs and Points at the plasma generated ultrasound by the Sun "Climate change! I heard it from a religious dominated science system that told people ANTIVIRALS WERE BAD!"

About Ultrasound and the Heliosphere gas the sun uses it to eject to control fuel intake while expanding its Ultrasonic field.. Points at Piezoelectric crystals converting Ultrasound to electricity Superman stuff.. Hey, why does your science system say Spiders use electricity to fly but it doesn't benefit flight for Bees that produce Thundercloud level electricity. Hint: THEY ARE LYING..

Easy science.. How could you people understand data that is controlled by others before you ever see it if you can't see EASY THINGS to prove manipulation? - Watcher

So, it's not a big Peltier element they made?

Another thing to realize is that this is just a first pass demonstration of a potentially useful technology. If it does prove useful in niche applications, the tech may yet improve and efficiency may rise a few modest points, which may be just enough to tip into ubiquitous usefulness in small, low power demand devices.

I always hated it when I was working on some fringe solution and someone asked me what I do and I told them I am trying to establish feasability of using membrane distillation to minimize the volume of waste water permeate from reverse osmosis filtration of the byproducts of fermenting glycerol from biodiesel production, and I heard “how can I use it?” When I then explained that membrane distillation is a very energy efficient method of separating fluids of ranging volatility and it could theoretically be used to low energy extract ethanol from fermented fluids to create biofuel, and they went “see? You can say it better! You are making energy out of trash!
🤦🏻‍♂️

So, weird question: is infrared is being blocked while trying to leave the atmosphere, and that contributes to global warming, can't we make a panel that shifts the wavelength from infra red to a different wavelength so that these waves can exit earth's atmosphere?

Power from emitting photons? Well that a new one for me. Sounds cool through.

Thanks.

Wouldn't it be much more sensible to insulate buildings then try to recycle the waste heat?

we call these " Luna Panels "

Professor He's-a-dork.

It can. But that doesn't say much. What would be more useful is increasing the efficiency of panels during the day.

Mercury is bad for environment, Cadmium is bad for the environment.... so have fun if e.g. a hailstorm would break these "solar" panels and set the ingredients free.

Pedant here. We most definitely cannot agree that greenhouse gases capturing heat is a bad thing! Without the greenhouse effect, our planet would be a frozen wasteland. The issue with greenhouse gases is we now have too much of a good thing because of two centuries of uncontrolled emissions.

Thanks for the tip!
This Tech could be effectively scaled up for use in Sand/concrete batteries.
Could make them fit into a thermally conductive polymer layer of a stainless steel mesh reinforced cable jacket with little heat sink fins and an inner copper wire core + coolant line tube
Great for running along along coolant lines with the insulation to power safety devices, or lay them underground on a grid out in the desert and simply bury them. put under roads and the road becomes the solar battery.

Why not combine this technology with thermodynamic panels? seems like a win win

I think you'd get more power from a large flat tank, say 100 m diameter, and 1 m tall, painted the darkest of blacks.
During the day while the air inside is heated, it would drive a small generator as the air expanded out. At the lowest possible amount of air inside the tank, it would close off and wait for the night to cool everything down, then the generator would run in reverse as air rushed in. Could be scaled as well. Maybe a large spherical tank would work better...
Could also use water cooling, and even be used to desalinate seawater. In that case the cycle could be done many times a day, especially in dry desert areas near the ocean. Freshwater and power.

Seems to be the same principal as a stirling engine......

i've long wondered why we couldn't use infrared radiation for power in solar farms.

but also, why can't we use the full magnetic spectrum?

Unfortunately its nearly certain this will not be useful for grid power generation. Solar panels capture a significant portion of ~1000watts per square meter. This sort of device captures vastly less than the black body radiation wattage (optimistically ~450watts per square meter). My extremely generous estimation is that such a device could capture 10watts per square meter. At such low wattage per square meter this could only be useful for grid power if its unbelievably cheap. It is hard to imagine that it could possibly be cheap enough. I suspect any real device would be unable to surpass 1watt per square meter which would require it to cost somewhere around $1 per square meter to be economical.

I think really healthy plants have the ability do photosynthesis at night using infra-red through beta carotenes, nature did it first

as soon as this tech is proved in space, in no time we will see it being used day to day!

When developed, would this new technology assist in a reduction in global warming?

great video my man

Dave, informative as always. And your great sense of humour is right up there too. Thanks again.

MERCURY! ewaste full of mercury. No I don't think so!

As energy is "conserved", if we were able to utilise a substantial amount of infrared emissions and convert them into electricity, wouldn't that represent a reduction in infrared emissions captured by the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, therefore reducing our warming effect?

Perhaps insignificant but technically correct.

This semiconductor device is related to the Peltier element, however, converts energy not into heat, but into light. It can be of interest more for cooling than to generate electricity. For space stations, it is important to be able to discard excess heat. This is difficult in a vacuum and possibly only thanks to radiation. If the electricity applicated to these diodes will allow to radiate on the one side IR, and on the other to cool, then there will be a good cosmic heat exchanger. Of course, the material itself, the cadmium mercury telluride is also better to produce directly in space.

It would be better to research all new innovative ways to create heat from as little electrical power as possible. The word efficiency is key here. Infrared is the future in this also.

But…but….the earth is cooling!

A Spanish solar farm worked out how to produce power from the solar panels at night years ago.

They just ran a bunch of diesel generators to power flood lights .
They may have even inspired a Scottish wind farm who used Diesel powered heaters to keep their turbines from icing up.

Solar panels don't care where the photons come from and can produce power in low light conditions but is the power is too low it can do far more harm than good and the power from solar farms is 98% waste energy to start with.

I think the real solution is figuring out how to harness dark energy and developing the technology to use it.

Climate change is an issue requiring culture change