My biggest issue with the whole Green Tech trend is that most people are looking for that one big solution and betting all their money on a horse that not only isn’t in the race but isn’t even born yet.

For example, the mania about thin-film solar has sent more stocks through the roof and gotten more companies Stage I, II and III financing than I care to count. The problem is thin-film solar is in its infancy and won’t be revolutionizing our world anytime soon.

Plus, the companies that are building the prototypes must stick around for another five to 10 years to even try to compete in a vibrant thin-film market. No matter what you hear in the investment world, here’s what a big solar story looks like on the science side, courtesy of a huge, breaking story on the new efficiency world record for photovoltaic (PV) cells.  

It’s an increase from 21.9 percent efficiency to 23 percent efficiency. The argument is that even such a small improvement will make a vast difference on a global scale.

But is this really cutting edge? Internal combustion engines are more efficient energy converters. But scientists are excited, so I’ll defer to them. The point is this “breakthrough” couldn’t have been accomplished without nanotechnology.

Actually, this story on nanowires and thin-film solar is much more exciting for cutting-edge solar. The problem is nothing is expected to reach the market for another decade. Again, this is why nanotech is subtly changing the world we live in through significant, fantastic ways. It’s just that the movement is relatively imperceptible by nonscientific, short-term, immediate-gratification investors.