Photovoltaic improvements may bring cheap solar power to reality

There are several ways of using the Sun as a renewable energy source. One of the best known is applying solar panels to generate electricity. Photovoltaic panels are the most common of these technologies.
They work by gathering photons from the Sun, which are absorbed by the silicon solar cells. This makes electrons flow from their atoms and generate electricity.
Solar panels is probably the greenest source of energy and my first choice for cheap solar power. Traditionally, costs for installing solar panels have allways been high. But economy of scale can change this completely. As more people buy solar panels, they become cheaper. This is happening right now as I'm finally seeing solar panels at an affordable price. Of course there's still an investment, that will only pay itself after some years.
Also, the technology is improving. What we buy now are solar panels based on sillicon, which theoretically could achieve as much as 31% efficiency, but in practice only 15% is obtained. However, scientists are rapidly seeking other materials to build the panels from. To my knowledge, the best efficiency achieved in lab so far is 42.8%, by a couple of researchers from University of Delaware. The bad thing is that it will take some years till this technology comes out. The good part is that prices of the current technology will continue to drop till that moment arrives. Of course, that technology won't be cheap at first. That's what happens with every new technology. However, if people are buying I suspect it will become cheap a lot faster than these sillicon solar panels that are available today.