Harvesting solar energy is a great way to generate sustainable power, but unfortunately solar cells are far from being as efficient as they might be. Currently, commercially available solar cells can convert about 25 percent of sunlight into electricity, and scientists have been trying to create better solar cells for years. One milestone they have been unsuccessfully trying to reach is 50 percent conversion efficiency of solar cells. However, the start-up company Semprius might be on the right track with the stacking technique of solar cells they recently developed.
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Maison Reciprocity, or Reciprocity House, is one of the entrants in this year’s Solar Decathlon Europe competition. In a nutshell, it is an energy-efficient, highly sustainable modular home, which aims to set the standard of low cost, and low impact building in the future. It is a joint effort between Appalachian State University and the French Université d’Angers, and one of only two entries into the competition by US teams this year.
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University of Liverpool News

Dr. Jon Major, a researcher at Liverpool University has recently made the discovery that the chemical used to make tofu, and bath salts, could also be used to replace one of the most toxic substances, namely cadmium chloride, that are used to manufacture solar cells. Using salts to replace cadmium chloride in solar cell production would also make them much cheaper. His study was published in the journal Nature.
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Photo: Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte

The photovoltaic technology is frequently used to obtain energy these days. Since it was discovered in the 19^th century that it is possible to get energy from sunlight, the ways of harnessing solar energy went through many different stages. The first prototype of solar cells was, for example, used to provide the satellite Vanguard I with energy in 1958 and the technology has been used in this area ever since.
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Dog trainer Julie Olson found herself in need of a mobile home, so she decided to build a tiny house on wheels. Olson has no architecture training herself, so she made the plans that detailed everything that she wanted her home to have, and sent them to Jason Dietz of Molecule Tiny Homes. It took him about two months to build Olson a home that was in keeping with her specifications. These included 2 loft areas, one of which was to be used as a bedroom, and the other for storage. Olson also wanted a fold out porch, storage stairs, a bathroom and a closet.
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One of the winners of this year’s American Institute of Architecture’s Small Project Practitioners Knowledge Community 8th annual Small Project Awards is Small House in an Olive Grove designed by Cooper Joseph Studio. The home is located in the Dry Creek Valley near Sonoma, California and functions almost completely off-the-grid.
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