When we talk about Solar energy, many a times we forget or we don?t know how much is the potential benefit we can expect?.Most probably few statistics can help us in understanding the same (ref : http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/article/60/3/10.1063/1.2718755):

1)       The San Francisco earthquake of 1906, with magnitude 7.8, released an estimated 10 ¹⁷ joules of energy, the amount the Sun delivers to Earth in one second.

2)      Earth's ultimate recoverable resource of oil, estimated at 3 trillion barrels, contains 1.7 ?10 ²² joules of energy, which the Sun supplies to Earth in 1.5 days.

3)      The amount of energy humans use annually, about 4.6 ?10 ²⁰ joules, is delivered to Earth by the Sun in one hour.

So, when we know the potential, the next question comes immediately is that : why we are not utilizing this clean energy to the fullest? The simple answer is economics!! Till date the cost of solar energy is higher than the conventional energies. So,  research is ongoing to reduce the cost of solar power by enhancing the efficiency level of the solar cells since last couple of decades.

Now a new breakthrough in the design of silicon-based solar cells have been reported by 3 companies during  recent IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference in Denver. Panasonic, Sharp and SunPower have presented new models that surpassed previous efficiency benchmarks. The breakthroughs pave the way for solar power to compete commercially against fossil fuels. Panasonic?s new cell design achieves a conversion rate of 25.6% of the sun?s energy into electricity.  Sharp?s and Sun Power?s designs also achieved efficiencies of greater than the previous record of 25%.

With these path breaking designs, however, the new design prototypes, not yet ready for commercial production, as an environmentalist, I  will be looking forward to the further development in this regard.

(For further reading ref :

http://inhabitat.com/groundbreaking-solar-cell-design-improvement-could-lead-to-cheaper-energy/)