The Clean Energy Prize is significant in that it provides capital resources and mentoring to help clean energy entrepreneurs from universities from across the country to jump start businesses. This is its 3rd year, and it has raised $65 million dollars, which has been used to launch 12 businesses so far (unsurprisingly, many of them are based in MA).
A team from Stanford University, C3Nano Inc., placed first in the MIT Clean Energy Prize for the device's ability to increase the efficiency of solar photovoltaic panels. The device is a nano carbon-based transparent electrode that enables improved efficiency by allowing 12% more light to penetrate the panel. The electrode is also lighter in weight, more flexible, and less expensive than electrodes made out of conventional materials.
Prominent judges selected C3Nano out of a roster of 60 teams representing 35 universities because of its potential to enhance existing photovoltaic systems. Production of photovoltaics now doubles every two years; photovoltaics have become the fastest growing energy technology. These transparent electrodes may also be used in the $4 billion electronic display and thin film market, which may heighten transparency and flexibility at one-tenth the cost of current electrode materials.
This marked reduction in cost has caught the attention of Tom May, Chairman, CEO, and President of NSTAR, a prominent photovoltaics company that co-sponsored the prize. Says May, "Solar energy technologies diversify energy supplies and offset greenhouse gas emissions, but their costs have so far been a barrier to widespread installation in New England. The technology developed by this team is potentially transformative in making solar energy a viable option to consumers throughout the region and has the added benefit of other significant applications."
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