Researchers at Santa Clara University have designed and tested a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) device on a residential scale can generate electricity and use rejected heat for many applications including domestic hot water space heating/cooling and absorption refrigeration. This system uses a combined thermoelectric and heat system with a proprietary low-profile solar tracker described in docket 12-S01. Concentrated solar thermal energy is converted into electricity using thermoelectric modules (TEMs) and rejected heat from the thermoelectric system is further extracted for domestic hot water space heating/cooling and absorption chilling. This design is being optimized to be highly efficient and affordable. Applications: Solar cells
1) Affordable 2) Compact 3) Clean energy 4) High utility in developing nations - can benefit majority of residents in 50 poorest nations who lack electricity and refrigeration 5) Higher efficiency than PV solar panels - unlike PV this energy conversion efficiency does not degrade with increasing temperature and can use the entire spectrum of solar energy even when cloudy