The upper limit for the efficiency of solar cells is reported to be around 33 per cent. In a recent study from Lund University in Sweden, researchers used new technology to examine extremely fast processes in solar cells, which might raise that limit to over 40 percent, a substantial improvement according to
the study's authors.

A rundown of recent earth and atmospheric science news affecting landscapers:

Even though the West Coast has already seen El Ni????(R)????o-like storms, the latest prediction by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was a 50 to 60 percent chance of El Ni????(R)????o conditions during the next two months. But recently the Australia Bureau of Meteorology called the prospect increasingly likely. Since El Nino is a reoccurring phenomenon, a team of researchers led by the University of Wisconsin's Zhengyu Liu is studying what has influenced El Nino over the last 21,000 years in order to understand its future and to prepare land management professionals for the consequences.

Researchers from Stanford and the University of Minnesota plan to study the large amounts of available data about the Capital Region watershed in St. Paul, Minn., to determine the best practices in stormwater management so that these practices can be applied to areas where the data is harder to come by.

Propane-powered lawn mowers are a tangible option but not so for mowers powered by natural gas, which can be up to one-sixth the cost of propane, but must be stored at much higher pressure so the tanks to hold it are larger and heavier. Scientists, including a team led by Rice bioengineer Michael Deem, are exploring the potential of combining the gas with synthetic molecules so that it can be stored at low pressure and at room temperature.

In most solar cells, an absorbed particle of sunlight creates just one potential free electron that generates electricity. Researchers at the University of Oregon showed how each particle can potentially create multiple packets of energy called excitons, which can generate multiple free electrons resulting in more electrical current.

A new technology created by researchers from Caltech advanced the prospect of photovoltaic cells that harness energy that is now being lost because today's cells "can only absorb and use a small fraction" of the sunlight that hits them.