MIT spin-off company, RawSolar, have demonstrated their promising new solar dish technology which could be used to heat or cool houses, office buildings or even power factories.
The dish can concentrate sunlight by a factor of around 1,000 times, so powerful that it can instantly ignite timber when placed near its focal point, as demonstrated in an MIT video.
Ordinary tap water is pumped through the metal rod in the center where it is heated at the top by the focused light. According to the MIT release, the heat is so intense it could melt a bar of steel.
The spin-off company hopes to revolutionize global energy production as the system not only provides a lot of power from its relatively small size, but also because it may be the world’s most cost-effective solar power system.
Source:
MIT Press Release w/Videos