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There's a theoretical limit of 55% for unconcentrated, 85% for concentrated sunlight. I'm not sure about the exact thermodynamical reasons for those numbers.

But claims of "1000x better" can physically never be true, unlike for batteries (e.g. antimatter, no matter how impractical, has millions times more energy density)



It depends on how you operationalize the claim and when you start the timer.

In 1975, the cost per watt for solar PV modules was $105.70 per watt, when normalized for inflation. In 2020, that number was $0.20 per watt. (Source: https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/evolution-of-... )

That a 528x improvement. If the price goes down in half again, quite possible with economies of scale, you have 1000x better in a significant measurement that counts.




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