It is used in surgery and dentistry for its anaesthetic and analgesic effects, where it is commonly known as laughing gas due to the euphoric effects of inhaling it. It is also used as a means to enable short periods of extreme high performance in automobile internal combustion engines by introducing extra oxygen into the intake charge which in turn allows a greater amount of fuel to be added and converted into energy and thereby greatly increasing the power produced by the engine. Nitrous oxide is present in the atmosphere where it acts as a powerful greenhouse gas.
The company SunPower in 2008 announced 22% efficiency converting light to electricity. Current high-performance panels, on average, convert about 20 percent of the light that strikes it into electricity. Conventional silicon solar panels convert about 14 to 17 percent of light.
The theoretical maximum is around 26 to 27 percent, although some have said it could go slightly higher.