Another application of biomimicry, this time based on rose petal structure, has boosted the conversion efficiency of organic solar cells.
Across the world, solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind are the dominant clean energy technologies. This dominance is likely to become overwhelming over the next few years, preventing other clean energy technologies (including carbon capture and storage, nuclear and other renewables) from growing much.
The federal election campaign has highlighted the very different visions of Australia’s renewable energy future held by the major parties. The Coalition government supports the present Renewable Energy Target (RET) of 33,000 gigawatt-hours from large-scale projects in 2020, which it negotiated with the Labor opposition in 2015.
The share of electricity generated by solar photovoltaics could be as much as 13 per cent globally in just 14 years says the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).