There’s been a major shift in American interest toward renewable energy sources, and one of the most popular is solar power. In fact, in the first half of 2014, half of all new power generation in the United States was solar energy. Since residential solar systems are becoming less expensive, an increasing number of homeowners are opting to have solar systems installed at their homes. Here are three things you need to know if you’re considering it. 1. There are tons of rebates and solar incentives. The first thing you should know is that there are a lot of incentives…
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Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) have revolutionized residential solar energy by introducing a transparent solar concentrator. Currently, the concentrators have an energy efficiency of about one percent, though researchers are confident that five percent will be possible in the near future. Non-transparent concentrators currently have maximum energy efficiency around seven percent. But how do the transparent concentrators work? To understand how the new concentrators work, one must first understand how solar panels work. Opaque solar panels absorb photons from sunlight and convert them to electrons, making electricity. In the past, genuinely transparent solar panels have been impossible to create,…