Photovoltaic silicon converts sunlight in 95% of the operational commercial solar cells and has the potential to become a leading material in harvesting energy from renewable sources, but silicon can hardly convert clean energy due to technologies required for its reduction from sand and further purification. The implementation of the novel materials into photovoltaic systems depends on their conversion efficiency limited by the material's inherent properties, longevity dependent on internal stability, and ease of manufacturing process. A major challenge is discovering a multilayered set of different photovoltaic materials capable of converting clean energy from a wider spectra range since emerging materials and technologies such as dye‐sensitized and quantum dots suffer from low conversion efficiencies while perovskite and organic cells have short longevity in atmospheric conditions. Presently, improving technologies for commercialized materials and creating multijunction solar cells enhanced by new photovoltaic materials is a path toward cleaner energies. With the rapid development of the integrative technologies and challenges that photovoltaics for clean energy conversion are facing, the entire clean photovoltaic industry could arise by bottom‐up course as a part of integrative technologies rather than erecting large power plants.

Solidification of the aluminum alloys takes place in heat-resistant refractory materials made of either metal or oxides that are stable at high temperatures. The significantly different thermal conductivities between metals and heat-resistant oxides cause solidification with significantly different cooling rates. In this work, we formed a secondary Al-8wt%Si-3wt%Cu alloy in a stainless steel mould, a thin-walled stainless steel cup, and a thick-walled zirconium oxide cup. The course of the formation of the solidified structure was monitored by immersed thermocouples, which enabled the computer analysis of the cooling curves. The parameters on which the cooling rate had the most significant influence are the undercooling values of the formation of primary aluminum crystals, the time of the growth of primary aluminum crystals and the total solidification time from the formation of the first solid crystals to the formation of a fully solidified structure. The Al-8wt%Si-3wt%Cu aluminum alloy formed in metal mould has a smaller grain size and consequently higher tensile strength, lower macro-porosity and less rough surface than the alloy formed in refractory oxide coatings. The examined heat-resistant refractory material influenced the formation of three basic micro-constituents in the Al-8wt%Si-3wt%Cu alloy in different time intervals, which led to the formation of a different microstructure, where the decision on the choice of material for the heat-resistant refractory material depends on the profitability of the entire process, the required quality of the external surfaces and required minimum strength of the final product.

Contemporary computer supported technologies unify a multitude of functions, from geological explorations, through planning, design, mining, auxiliary and logistic activities, monitoring, analysis, decision making to the real time management. This approach requires the information-management systems with a multi-level hierarchy structure, with high monitoring-management efficiency. Accepting the challenges of time, the Serbian mining took the starting position in this technological game timely, with some good ideas and projects, but without efficient realization. There is an opposite example however, in 2000, a computer system for remote monitoring and management in the real time at the "Majdan III" open pit mine was built. Fourteen years of continual monitoring of this systems operation and the quantity of technical and technological data on its functioning, has provided a reliable and objective depicting of the monitoring-management efficiency, investments, costs and benefits. This paper presents the actual results achieved with this system and comparatively analyze investments and benefits for the similar systems in coal and non-ferrous metal mines.