Solar—A New Open Access Journal for Solar Technologies

Climate change and the consequential environmental catastrophes are real, not only in less developed countries of the so-called “Global South” but also in so-called industrialized and “well-developed” areas of the world! Just within the last few months and years, we have seen high-temperature records in the United States, fire disasters in Canada, Australia, Greece, Italy, and Spain. We have also been confronted with deadly flood disasters in China, Japan, Germany, Austria, England and so on and on. It is foreseeable that the situation will become worse over the next decades. Nevertheless, even in those seemingly enlightened societies there are still politicians and other people with limited information and insight doubting human-made climate change.

Despite and because of this fast car, steering towards the abyss, if at all, there is only one way out: We must not only perform basic research and lead academic discussions, but we must use, as fast as possible, the only real sustainable energy source that enables us to come to a CO₂-free energy supply: the Sun. Additionally, also in research, we must make contributions which convince politicians and other decision makers to turn the steering wheel in a different direction. Purely academic ivory tower discussions, limited to basic research far away from any real application, will not help much.

The new journal Solar [1] warmly invites you to send us high-quality reports on your newest research, development, and application of solar technologies. The emphasis will be on the direct use of solar energy in photovoltaics (PV) and solar thermal conversion. Articles which convincingly show a relevance to applications are particularly welcome. Indirect use of solar energy, such as waterpower or wind energy is not in the focus of attention of Solar.

Therefore, in the field of photovoltaics, we encourage authors to submit articles on new promising materials for photovoltaics, high-efficiency solar cells, modules and systems, novel characterization methods, new instruments for industrialization, PV heating and cooling systems, building integration, power electronics for PV, battery systems and other storage systems combined with PV, small area and large area power plants, as well as on PV-driven grids and grid integration

In the field of solar thermal conversion, we ask for articles on materials research, novel flat panel collectors, concentrating systems, solar heating/cooling, combined solar thermal/PV-systems, storage systems, and also on small or large area solar power plants.

Speeding up the application of PV and solar thermal technologies needs more than the discussion of research- and technology-related issues! Particularly in the discussion with decision makers, articles are necessary which cover the politics, economy, and social aspects of solar technologies as well as those related to environmental issues (e.g., recycling, replacement of toxic materials, carbon footprint), energy and yield forecasts, life cycle analyses, and degradation measurements.

We warmly invite you to submit your manuscript related to the scope of Solar.