This month, we’re talking about solar as part of an application of nanotechnology. Every video on the topic leads off with the same line: “Every minute, the sun hits the planet with enough to power everything for a year”. That’s the easy line…that hard part when it comes to economics.

Because of the cost of silicon (the traditional solar PV material) and efficiency of the material, much research and focus is tending towards using nanoparticles to absorb sunlight. The material would be able to be applied on rooftops everywhere, feeding electricity to the power company during the day.

This distributed model of power generation is the vision of Palo Alto’s Nanosolar. Check out the KQED video below for a primer on the hope nanotech brings to solar power.

QUEST on KQED Public Media.