Solar Power has been around for years. But thanks to nanotechnology, scientists have developed ways to make it a more affordable energy source for everyone. Indi Wood reports.

Nanotechnology is used to develop renewable energy. Image: Brookhaven National Laboratory

The price of solar power and other renewable energies is set to dramatically reduce thanks to nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology – the ability to control matter on a tiny atomic scale – has allowed scientists to understand how nature works on the minute level and use that knowledge to manufacture cleaner and more efficient materials.

“We’ve already using a lot of nanomaterials to make better plastics and composite materials that can start to replace materials like steel and aluminium,” says Tim Harper, a UK based scientist who is in Australia for the Clean Technology Conference in Melbourne.

“The reason we want to do that is because things like the gas mileage of your car is very much related to the weight so you lose 10 per cent of the weight and the car becomes 10 per cent more efficient.”

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Harper says experts are well on their way to making solar technology a more economically viable energy source by using plastic electronics rather than using high-cost plants.

“The reason you want to do that is then the production process looks a lot more like printing a newspaper than making a microprocessor,” he says.

“Then you’re churning these things out by the kilometre and suddenly it becomes a lot cheaper and it’s a lot more viable to use.”

Harper says more cost effective options are required if solar energy is to be seen as a viable long-term energy source.

He points out that while traditional solar panels put on roofs take 20-30 years before there is any economic payback, those developed with nanotechnology could see returns in 2-3 years.

Harper says that while many people do have environmental and safety concerns regarding nanotechnology, scientists are now much more able to predict the potential risks.

“You see something like a carbon nanotube, the first thing people thought was ‘hey that looks like an asbestos fibre, I wonder if that could have the same effect we should be careful with that,” he says.

“So I think we’re very much aware of the environmental and the health and safety things. And a lot more aware than we were say 50 years ago.”

Harper says other areas of renewable energy are also being looked at to improve efficiency.

“Batteries have improved by a factor of four since led acid batteries but they’re still pretty terrible when compared with things like gasoline for example,” he says.

“So one of the big challenges is being able to design materials that will give us that kind of efficiency, we call that materials by design.

“ We’re not quite there yet but we’re close enough that we can almost taste it.”