The run after the new gold, the unlimited and cheap energy, is being pursued all over the world, not only in the US. There are states, like Israel, where solar power has been harnessed for decades in the form of hot water for its inhabitants. All those solar water heaters have been build by economical needs. In fact, only economical needs can stimulate the world to such an extent that it develops new technologies.

Yet another Israel-based company, named ZenithSolar, led by Roy Segev, has a plan of building a special kind of solar panels that could have 75% efficiency by harnessing both the light’s visible spectrum and the heat it transports. It’s a hybrid, a compromise between photovoltaic panels and the classic solar water heating systems.

In fact, Segev’s solar panels are cheap, too. The energy they provide will come at a price that rivals fossil fuels: about 8.6 cents per kilowatt.

The solar system is made of 1200 small mirrors that focus on a surface of 10 square centimeters, where a special high-temperature PV panel is installed. A special one is needed, since the heat accumulated could melt metals. They could install these small solar furnaces in your backyard, but the pilot-built big’uns produce 70kW of electricity and the equivalent of 140kW of water heating, also saving precious energy otherwise derived from charcoal.

Isn’t it sometimes improvizations are the next best thing to do? Let’s not avoid them anymore.

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