In the future, can solar cells be efficient enough to power products that we use every day (ie: computers, cars, coffee machines)?
Solar cells are already efficient enough. The reasons that we have not switched are two-fold — (1) low ROE, as explained above, and (2) the political forces and economic forces which have a large investment in traditional (fossil fuel) energy sources. These interests need to see a profit from renewable investments before they will change. There is not enough solar energy falling on the surface of a car to give the performance we have all come to expect. All-solar cars which run with energy from collectors on the car itself are unwieldy. Solar race cars have a weird shape, and this shape is due to the diffuse nature of solar energy. Just the same, solar powered cars are quite useful to industry. Solar car racing events have given us much technology development, and the newly developed engineering devices are being applied to practical electric vehicles (EVs). Once PV is in mass production, solar powered cars (albeit without panels on-board) will be commonplace. We will be able to use P
