over the last two decades solar technology has grown to become one of the great weapons in the
battle of climate change but they do require one key ingredient in order to reach their
full potential that's of course sunlight any home solar panel owner can tell you that cloudy days
are no bueno when it comes to solar production but what if there was a solar technology that could
function even without direct sunlight sounds like a contradiction right well it turns out
a really clever kid came up with an idea he calls the aria solar panels that can actually do just
that so how do these panels work exactly and what sets them apart from solar panels that we have on
the market today we thought these questions deserve deeper dive today on tupa davinci
special thanks to tezos for sponsoring this episode are you curious about nfts and crypto
and blockchains check out tesos like so many of history's great creations arita's technology
wasn't developed by some mega tech conglomerate or some mega billionaire it came from this guy
carvey aaron meg an electrical engineering student from mapua university in the philippines
meg's inspiration literally fell from the sky it was a rainy afternoon a common occurrence
in the tropical philippines meg was wearing his sunglasses which had lenses that darkened
when exposed to sunlight also very typical however on this gloomy overcast afternoon
meg noticed that even though the sun was obscured by clouds his lenses were still darkened see
even though clouds covered the majority of sunlight there were still tiny light rays
that were able to get through we would know this as ultraviolet light see ultraviolet light falls
into a wavelength between 10 and 400 nanometers far outside the range of what's known as visible
light but as we all know just because you can't see something doesn't mean it's not there one of
the main drawbacks of conventional solar panels is that they don't absorb ultraviolet light which is
why their efficiency drops unless they're in direct sunlight with no shading so with this
combination of rainfall and transition lenses an ultraviolet light bulb went off in meg's head
he set out to work on developing what he would call the urea solar panel a groundbreaking new
type of solar that can work even on cloudy days what sets these panels apart is that they use
ultraviolet light which falls outside the range of human eyes one major benefit of ultraviolet light
is that it can shine through even on a cloudy day this is one reason why it's common for people to
get sunburns on a cloudy day not thinking they need sunscreen because it feels like the sun isn't
shining orea stands for aurora renewable energy and uv sequestration well i gotta handle the kid
he's got a future in marketing you might recognize that first word aurora from the natural occurring
phenomena aurora borealis or the northern lights during naturally occurring aurorae that's
more than one aurora apparently electrical charged particles emitted from the sun during solar storms
collide with the earth most of these particles simply bounce away but some are trapped inside
the earth's magnetic field speeding toward either the northern or southern pole remember the earth
is just a big magnet these high energy particles usually gamma or uv radiation
bash into luminescent atoms and molecules in the atmosphere causing them to heat up
a process called excitation they're then re-emitted as low energy particles visible light
due to their internal reflectance which then moves them in a wave pattern throughout the magnetic
field creating the stunning curtaining effects we know as the northern and southern lights
so what does any of this have to do with solar panels well because the aureus panels capitalize
on this exact process it begins with luminescent particles derived from the planet's original
solar energy producers fruits and vegetables that's right meg's invention utilizes discarded
crop waste that has the natural ability to transform uv rays into electrical energy
meg tested nearly 80 different compounds from local crops before landing on nine which showed
the greatest potential for long-term use next luminescent compounds were combined with a resin
and poured over a thin solar film creating strong translucent yet easily multiple glass-like panels
the first products looked almost like stained glass not like your typical photovoltaic panels
so how exactly do these panels work well just like in naturally occurring auroras it begins
with stray uv light hitting the resin panels which are packed full of high energy particles remember
photovoltaic panels can't use raw uv light but once the panels absorb the invisible radiation
they re-emit them as low energy particles aka visible light due to internal reflectance just
like those particles in our atmosphere that visible light then strikes a solar film laced
along the panel's edge where it is converted into dc electricity regulating circuits process the
voltage output to enable battery charging storage or direct utilization of electricity may compares
the process to how mammals breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide in that this panel takes in
ultraviolet light then sheds out visible light the prototype panel a three by two foot lime
green translucent panel was able to generate enough electricity to charge two cell phones
per day that may not sound like much but this is only the beginning before we get back to the show
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brave new blockchain world either way head over to the tesla's homepage for nfts it's educational
easy to understand and fun link in the video description huge thanks to tessa's and all of
you for making this show possible when scaled up meg says these panels could enable entire
buildings to generate their own electricity while solar produced energy has proven a vital role in
the fight against climate change some suggest that today's solar technology may be reaching
a bit of a saturation point in terms of efficiency aureus panels could be an excellent addition to a
solar energy system by stepping into some of the gaps left by current solar technology because the
release panels don't need direct sunlight to operate their applications could be limitless
sure they could definitely excel in locations with more cloud cover and less direct sunshine
but more than just adapting to the weather areas panels could find homes in more densely populated
urban environments instead of taking up acres of land oreos angles could be used to create
vertical solar farms think about the sides and windows of your home or even better the sides of
buildings and skyscrapers covered in these ultra violet absorbing panels because they don't rely on
direct sunlight aureus panels could increase solar harvesting density exponentially best of all the
panels utilize crop waste creating much more of a closed loop system that benefits the environment
as a whole meg even suggests that the material could be used on various surfaces including cars
walls airplanes and clothing fabrics the hope he says is to encourage consumers to adopt renewable
energy solutions with a technology that can better adapt to people's lives and interest
as of right now the panels aren't quite ready to hit the marketplace but this innovation was
enough to win meg the james dyson sustainability award which came with a handsome 35 000 prize
with that money meg hopes to continue to invest in research and development for this really promising
technology he also hopes to increase manufacturing right now the current production rate is about 30
panels a month meg hopes to use some of his prize money to create a production team and facility
this is pretty interesting clever and ingenious technology but of course this is years away
from being anywhere near commercialization ready starting with sourcing materials it's not exactly
clear how easily you can scale up discarded fruits and vegetable matter to produce these panels
and if you make enough of these do you have to start throwing crops away that were perfectly good
not really clear plus the resin panels still need to prove they can withstand the harsh rays of the
sun for decades without yellowing fading cracking or otherwise falling apart plus there's still the
very important question of how efficient they can be and how much more they'll end up costing to
manufacture the dream of draping the skyscrapers of tomorrow with something like this will only
make sense if it's worth the added cost so yeah this is super super early and much remains to be
answered but that being said this story really got me excited i would love to meet carvies he
seems like an absolutely amazing dude so carvey if you're watching give me a call covering these
great innovative ideas that just might put a dent in the energy needs of the future is literally the
mission statement of this channel this whole the future is going to be awesome thing yeah
this is what we're talking about so what do you think could aria's panels be the next
major movement in solar technology what creative applications could you see for these panels let
us know in the comments below thanks so much for watching if you want to be a rock star supporter
of this show please join us on patreon as a patron or a youtube channel member come
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we'd appreciate you we appreciate you now anyway take a look around there's some videos i think
we're going to like i'm ricky tuba davinci and just remember the future is going to be awesome