The use of solar energy from the sun as an alternative source of energy from fossil fuel, hydroelectric power, nuclear, and many other sources has increased in demand. The sun produces a lot of energy necessary to power the whole world, but humans use only a fraction, about 1 percent compared to electricity power with 39 percent and natural gasses with 54 percent. The following essay compares and contrasts approaches used by two articles investigating the development of solar collecting cells. These articles are “Solar photovoltaic electricity: Current status and prospects” by T. M. Razykov with others and “Perovskites: Solar cells & engineering applications materials and device developments” by Milos Petrovic with other authors. The analysis of sources focuses on data, conclusions, solutions proposed, implementation, cost, and future work (See Table 1).
Comparison
These two sources have a common aim of investigating how engineers can introduce new and efficient solar cells that collect more energy from the sun to help sustain the future energy requirements of the growing population. Razykov et al. concentrated on the current and prospects for the solar photovoltaic electricity while Petrovic et al. concentrated on the application of solar cells, mainly perovskites photovoltaics in increasing the efficiency of solar energy collection. At the end of the study, each article proposed the need for solar technology engineers to come photovoltaic solar cells that have high solar power collection efficiencies. Both sources were based their investigations on the efficiencies of solar cells.
Moreover, both sources came up with similar conclusions about the state of solar power generations in the future. Authors in both articles analyzed the data about the current power consumption in the world and made a projection of how the situation would be in 20-30 years to come. The world will demand more power in the future because of the growing population, but the present sources are a threat to the atmosphere. To ensure power sustainability and promote a safe environment, authors researched about the solar energy and investigated ways of reducing the cost of production. Razykov’s article concluded that the production of thin-film solar cells is lower than the cost of the presently used photovoltaic cells. Thin-film solar cells record efficiencies of 20 percent; hence, recommended for future solar energy collection. Similarly, Petrovic’s article came up to the conclusion that Perovskite solar cells have high photoconversion efficiency and are best suited for future solar energy needs. The efficiency recorded for Perovskite solar cells was 19 percent. Petrovic argued that with the increasing engineering input, the efficiency will continue increasing with the production of new solar cells.
Figure 1: Comparing Solar Photovoltaic nd Perovskites Solar cells
Finally, the two sources recommended similar implementations of solutions. The implementation methods suggested by the two sources differed a lot. Authors writing the article on solar photovoltaic electricity requested engineers to implement effective manufacturing technologies that would help lower the cost of producing the solar module. The article on Perovskites photovoltaic cells also recommended the application of the proposed solution to engineering by promoting the development of efficiency materials and solar devices.
Contrast
The two articles had some differences regarding data collection. Firstly, Razykov and his friends compared data collected from first, second, and third generations photovoltaic technologies to investigate the performance of solar cells and determine methods of improving their efficiencies. On the contrary, the study on Perovskites only used data collected from the most current fabrications of solar cells. The data collected was only three years old compared to the data from the other source gathered since the introduction of the solar technology. On the other hand, authors researching about solar photovoltaic electricity went ahead to correct information about the PV market to compare current prices with future projected prices but the other source only recommended readers to carry out more research on the future potential of using perovskite photovoltaic solar cells.
Works Cited
Razykov.T., C. Ferekides and D. More, "Solar Photovoltaic Electricity: Current Status and
Prospects," Elsevier Ltd, (2011). 1580 – 1608.Petrovic, Milos., Chellapan, Vijila., and Ramakrishna, Seeram. “Perovskites: Solar cells &
engineering applications-materials and devices developments.” Solar Energy, 122. 678-699.
