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With the  advent of higher energy costs homeowners are looking to minimize their electric bills. The use of alternative energy sources will be gaining popularity not because it is the right thing to do, but because it is cost effective for the homeowners.

That is why the most recent breakthrough in solar energy is exciting. Presently solar energy technology is about 30 percent efficient. This is good, but it makes the return on investment hard for a homeowner to justify to install an expensive solar panel system. But Lonnie Johnson, inventor of the Super-Soaker among st 100 other inventions, has come up with a way to improve the energy efficiency to a rate of 60 percent or higher.

The high efficiency solar systems will be great news for homeowners and environmentalists alike. The ability to generate energy from  the sun has never been the problem for homeowners, overpaying for the energy has been.

Solar energy technology is enjoying its day in the sun with the advent of innovations from flexible photovoltaic (PV) materials to thermal power plants that concentrate the sun’s heat to drive turbines. But even the best system converts only about 30 percent of received solar energy into electricity—making solar more expensive than burning coal or oil. That will change if Lonnie Johnson’s invention works. The Atlanta-based independent inventor of the Super Soaker squirt gun (a true technological milestone) says he can achieve a conversion efficiency rate that tops 60 percent with a new solid-state heat engine. It represents a breakthrough new way to turn heat into power. via Popular Mechanics.

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