How solar-powered windows could change the world

[M II A II R II K]

How solar-powered windows could change the world


August 27th, 2014

By Chris Owen

Read More: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technol...nge-the-world/

The term "game-changing" is a cliché, especially in technology and innovation circles, but the latest developments from Michigan State University have the potential to completely overhaul a multitude of commercial and industrial markets.

- The university has announced the creation of transparent solar panels – effectively windows that do the same job as the carbuncular, shiny bluey-grey units we’ve become used to. Except they’re (obviously) see-through. This not only fundamentally changes the rules for building eco-houses, but it also potentially reaches out into any technology and industrial sphere where power is required but the unwieldy giant solar panels of today’s world are cumbersome and impracticable.

- For more environmentally friendly houses there’s an obvious aesthetic benefit – the solar units can be integrated into the building far better than they are currently where panels are attached on the roof; every building has windows, and now those windows can capture energy to fuel the building. Think of your own house and sun-facing windows, and you’ve already seen an opportunity to use the technology at consumer level. Pay a visit to any city and stare up at the skyscrapers and you’ve seen the giant commercial model – imagine if, for example, London’s Shard was built using such solar-capturing windows.

- For now, the structure requires rigidity, so practical implementation would be limited to products which have a more robust build: mobile phones have been cited as a likely first destination. When you consider the rather feeble battery life of most smartphones, having a non-intrusive, transparent means to capture energy makes total sense. With the inevitable rise of wearable tech hardware, the number of devices we use will continue to rise, and all of these will use a screen or interface (and one which won’t negatively impact the design). It’s a huge opportunity.

- Take the product a step further and you can integrate it into electric vehicles with ease; likewise major industrial transport infrastructure would equally be able to take advantage of the sun’s rays to cut global emissions on a massive scale. This is such a huge development it signals a real step change for energy conservation – it can genuinely revolutionise how we capture energy and power our lives. It’s at an early stage still now, but with more investment it will be one of those technologies we look back on as being truly groundbreaking.

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[aaron38]

- Take the product a step further and you can integrate it into electric vehicles with ease

People who can't do math need to stop doing engineering. I've built a solar car, and the math doesn't work for that. Even at best efficiency, the surface area of all the windows on a car don't come close to running the drive motor for more than a few miles. 8 square meters of space grade high efficiency cells can over the course of a day produce enough energy to run an ultralight car for about a hundred miles.
The glass of a family sedan is 4-5 sq meters, but only a fraction can be pointed at the sun at any one time. At best 2 sq-m, 600W at the most. Barely anything against the 4400w-h battery in the Prius, and that's only good for 11 miles.

Solar windows are for the curtain walls of skyscrapers, not cars.

[Allan83]

Originally Posted by aaron38

People who can't do math need to stop doing engineering. I've built a solar car, and the math doesn't work for that. Even at best efficiency, the surface area of all the windows on a car don't come close to running the drive motor for more than a few miles. 8 square meters of space grade high efficiency cells can over the course of a day produce enough energy to run an ultralight car for about a hundred miles.
The glass of a family sedan is 4-5 sq meters, but only a fraction can be pointed at the sun at any one time. At best 2 sq-m, 600W at the most. Barely anything against the 4400w-h battery in the Prius, and that's only good for 11 miles.

Solar windows are for the curtain walls of skyscrapers, not cars.

Yeah, that one line kind of destroyed the credibility of the whole article. It’s far more important that this technology be used on buildings anyway, because it will displace coal and natural gas, which are by far the major sources of greenhouse gasses.