Today is Guinness World Records Day and this year our sector is featured. Along with some of the more unusual entries that still stand in 2020.
Some of our favourites include:
- The world's Shortest Living Horse: (22.36 inches high),
- Tallest HAT: (15 feet, 9 inches)
and - Most Tricks Performed by a Pig in One Minute, which is an outstanding 13 by our friend pictured above.
Photo from a recently completed Solar in Spain project in Mijas, Malaga.
But, back to business, and there's a new entry for renewables in this year's big book, where technology has set a world record for the most efficient generation of energy by a solar cell. By stacking six different photoactive layers, the multi-junction cell has reached nearly 50 percent efficiency in the lab and 40 percent in real-life conditions out in the sun*
If "nearly 50 percent efficiency" doesn't sound like a big deal to you, bear in mind that with regular panels generally over 80% of the sunlight is reflected off...just like any other surface.
Science Bit
For those interested in the tech...because sunlight covers such a wide range of wavelengths, the different kinds of receivers were able to pick up more light from the total available spectrum.The most extraordinary part though is that there are 140 layers of the six different solar collector materials, but the entire collecting surface is one-third the thickness of a human hair!