The Anti-solar solar panel

[jasonhc73]

"Solar panels only work when the sun is out. "

Hold my beer...

And just like that, the anti-solar panel, for night time power.

Anti-solar cells: A photovoltaic cell that works at night

What if solar cells worked at night? That's no joke, according to Jeremy Munday, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Davis. In fact, a specially designed photovoltaic cell could generate up to 50 watts of power per square meter under ideal conditions at...

www.eurekalert.org

 

[backwash]

Had a friend that put solar lights inside his fridge. said he wanted the light inside to charge them up. his wife thought that was so neat. ha !

 

[svetz]

The theory is real (electrical energy from thermal radiation, a lot of space craft use it), but the article is totally misleading as you would first need to expend energy to heat the surface so it could radiate energy. That's great if you happen to have some heat from decaying nuclear materials. Solar panels capture energy created on the sun, there's just no real comparison here.

 

[JeepHammer]

"Under IDEAL Conditions..." a blazing 50Watts per Sq.Meter...
We get about 3 'Ideal' days a year... And I'm NOT spending them polishing 'Moon Panels' and keeping them tracking whatever light might be available.

About as cost effective as putting a couple of big mirrors in space to reflect sunlight down when you are on the 'Dark Side'...
Your back yard only, don't want the neighbors complaining about the light at night... Let me know how that goes for you...