I'd like to start by saying I think the 80% efficiency solar panels represent great progress... but they also represent a big problem with geeks, nerds, technophiles, and the like. Don't get me wrong... I'm a card carrying member of each and every one of those groups, but something needs to be done.
Ecogeek begins by talking up the material's characteristics:
The trick is nanotechnology. The surface of the material is printed with miniscule nano-antennae that capture infra-red radiation, the kind that the sun puts out in abundance, and is even available at night. Television antennas absorbe large wavelength energy, so in order to absorb ultra-small wavelength energy (photons) they had to create ultra-small antennas.Unfortunately we have one little problem:
...there is a bit of a hitch: There's currently no way to capture the energy being created.Note: A very large portion of internet users only read the headline, out of the small portion that read the first paragraph, many of those do not continue either. Hmm... Ecogeek chose to put this trivial tidbit at the end of the 4th paragraph.
Maybe in the future... the HEADLINE should read: "80% efficient Solar power? Not until you catch it!"
This, unfortunately, is epidemic in the geeky, social media-y, internet world. Let's keep our claims factual, and non-misleading.
I promise to work on making up less words.
