Solar Energy

Solar Energy can be harnessed in several ways. Three novel ways that I have found are:
1) Spray on Solar Cells: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0114_050114_solarplastic.html
Scientists have invented a plastic solar cell that can turn the sun's power into electrical energy, even on a cloudy day.
The plastic material uses nanotechnology and contains the first solar cells able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays. The breakthrough has led theorists to predict that plastic solar cells could one day become five times more efficient than current solar cell technology.
Like paint, the composite can be sprayed onto other materials and used as portable electricity. A sweater coated in the material could power a cell phone or other wireless devices. A hydrogen-powered car painted with the film could potentially convert enough energy into electricity to continually recharge the car's battery.
2) High efficiency 3-D Solar Cells that capture sunlight, and unseen wavelengths of light(UV):
http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/3d-solar.htm
Unique three-dimensional solar cells that capture nearly all of the light that strikes them could boost the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems while reducing their size, weight and mechanical complexity.
The new 3D solar cells capture photons from sunlight using an array of miniature "tower" structures that resemble high-rise buildings in a city street grid. The cells could find near-term applications for powering spacecraft, and by enabling efficiency improvements in photovoltaic coating materials, could also change the way solar cells are designed for a broad range of applications.
3) Stirling engine Solar Collector
http://www.reuk.co.uk/Stirling-Engine-Solar-Power.htm
The Stirling engine was developed in 1816 by Robert Stirling in order to offer an alternative to the frequently explosive early steam engines. Basically a closed cylinder containing a piston and helium, nitrogen or hydrogen gas is heated at one end by concentrated sunlight, and cooled at the other end by air or water. As the gas expands and cools with the movement of the piston, a generator can be driven to produce electricity. (If the engine is run in reverse then it produces a cooling effect acting as a 'Stirling cooler'.With a Stirling engine combustion occurs outside the engine which made it much safer and less likely to explode. They didn't catch on the nineteenth century because of the costs of manufacture despite exceptional efficiency of almost 50% in some cases.
An array of concave mirrors focus the sun's rays onto a single point which drives a four-cylinder stirling engine which turns a 25 kW generator. The solar collector is over 10 metres across and it currently costs 1/4 million dollars.
Collectors can be connected together into arrays in order to generate larger amounts of electricity. There are currently proposales to erect a 20,000 dish array somewhere in the sunny South West of the USA to pump out 500 MW of power - more than many nuclear or fossil fuel power stations.Stirling engines can also be used with geothermal heat, waste industrial heat, to generate electricity.