In The Field
MRS: Solar’s hot, or not
This meeting has seen loads of talks about solar power. Materials science can help harvest energy from the sun in many ways. I have learned about conventional silicon, with David Carlson from BP Solar predicting that crystalline silicon, despite its expense, will continue to dominate the photovoltaics market for some time. He also offered a gloomy prediction for solar start-ups. “A lot of companies won’t survive” he says. “there are too many, that’s just not stable,” especially in the current economic climate.